


Karasu Kanashimi

by Kacky119



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Female Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-02-26 07:49:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 48,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13231239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kacky119/pseuds/Kacky119
Summary: Karasu woke up all alone in a classroom with no memories what so ever. She couldn't even remember her own name! But that's the least of her worries when a black and white bear shows up and says he will only let one person out if he or she murders a classmate and doesn't get caught. Will Karasu survive or die? Fem!Harry There WILL be some spoilers.





	1. Act 1: Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

A petite young lady with long black hair and bangs that completely hid her forehead sat slouched over a wooden desk. Her face was buried in her folded arms to block the light from her eyes. She turned her head in her sleep and the dim lighting in the classroom shone onto her face. Golden eyes fluttered open and she sat up. She blinked drowsily and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She yawned widely. She noticed her vision was very blurry. She looked down at the desk and spotted what appeared to be a pair of glasses. After she placed the glasses on, everything came into focus and she found herself in a room filled with desks like hers, a podium, and a blackboard. 'Am I in a classroom? How did I get here? Why am I here?' She thought drowsily.

She froze solid when she couldn't remember how she got into this situation. Her face turned blue when she was unable to recall her name.

"Who am I?" she muttered aloud. She repeated it over and over like a mantra, screwed her eyes shut, and clenched her fist in frustration. Tears leaked from her eyes when she could not remember her own name. She couldn't remember anything. She glanced down at the paper folded neatly on her desk, picked it up, and began to read,  _"_ _Karasu Kanashimi_ _, Welcome to School A new semester has just begun. Since your starting new lives, this school will be your new world. Gather in the gym at 8 for the welcoming ceremony."_  It was written in crayon. Complete with a picture that appeared to have to be drawn and colored by a kindergartener. But she didn't care about the picture; she focused on only two words.

"Karasu Kanashimi," she murmured testing it on her tongue, "I am Karasu Kanashimi!" she declared then giggled feeling exhilarated and relieved that she finally had a name. Karasu was suddenly overtaken by a desire to keep this paper, so she would never forget her name again. She patted her thighs in hopes of finding a pocket, but she was wearing a red sundress. Finally, she stuffed it in the brown leather travel bag, with the strap hanging on her shoulder, resting on her opposite hip.

Karasu felt slightly more relaxed and began investigating her surroundings. She glanced out of the window only to find an iron plate was obstructing her vision. Her face fell flat as she stared at the iron plate. 'Am I a prisoner?' was her first thought and one look at the security camera confirmed her suspicions.

That was when she had an idea. A smile appeared on her face that spelled trouble. Karasu was quick to jump into action and stacked a few of the desks on top of each other and climbed to the top. She was now sitting directly in front of the camera. She stared at the camera. And stared. And stared. The she made a face. She tilted her head, stuck out her tongue, and closed one eye. She made a peace sign next to her head and said, "Selfie!"

Somewhere within the building a certain someone, the mastermind, watched shocked at her unorthodox behavior. Her behavior contradicted almost seven months' worth of data the mastermind had gathered on Karasu Kanashimi.

Karasu hopped down from her perch. She felt that she had goofed off enough for one day. Besides didn't she have somewhere to be?

With a jolt that she remembered she had somewhere to be. Her eyes darted to the clock. It was 8:00. She was late! Karasu darted out of the classroom and turned left only to run into the brown haired boy who had just exited the classroom he was in. The boy was sent crashing into the floor while Karasu managed to stay on her feet. She flitted around him while panicking and apologizing repeatedly.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay? Do you need help?" Karasu said without stopping to take a breath.

"No worries!" He responded as she helped him to his feet.

"I'm Makoto Naegi," he introduced himself with a smile then he frowned, "Were you crying?"

"I am Karasu Kanashimi!" she introduced herself with a little more enthusiasm than necessary, "And sometimes I cry in my sleep."

Makoto looked startled at the confession, but accepted her response without protest. "My title is the Ultimate Lucky Student. What's yours?" He asked.

Karasu froze and quickly turned around to conceal her panic. 'I have a title?! I have no idea what it could be!' she thought frantically as she searched for response.

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked, concerned.

Karasu slowly turned back around with an insane grin on her face and answered quite cheerfully, "That's for me to know and for you to find out!"

Makoto sweat dropped and opened his mouth-.

"Hey, I found the gym! Hurry up; we're late enough as it is." Karasu exclaimed. She had wandered off without him.

-Only to find himself standing all alone; he had been abandoned in the hall. How did she move so fast?

"Hey! Wait up!" He shouted as he ran after her. By the time he caught up with her, she had already thrown open the gymnasium doors. They were met by the sight of fourteen other students nervously glancing around, pacing or in deep thought. They paused and glanced at them when Karasu opened the door.

"Hey- did you guys wake up in a classroom too?" Karasu said in a sing-song tone with her insane grin, heavily contrasting with the nervous atmosphere.

"Yes, everyone here woke up without a clue how they got here." An absolutely adorable girl known as Chihiro Fujisaki replied shyly.

"How peculiar..." stated Celestia Ludenberg sporting a perfect poker face.

"Reminds me of the days we had back in Juvie." said Mondo Oowada.

"Hey, maybe they will auction off our organs." Leon Kuwata joked.

"You have no excuse for your tardiness!" shouted Kiyotaka Ishimaru.

"Could you just, not?" asked Junko Enoshima.

"Ah cool, that will make sixteen of us." Yasuhiro Hagakure said.

"Maybe now we'll get some answers." stated Hifumi Yamada.

"This is supposed to be a special school, right?" asked Aoi Asahina to a very muscular… man?

"I suggest that first, we assess our situation." stated the very muscular Sakura Oogami.

"Okay…" Makoto Naegi responded looking very much intimidated.

"Bet he thinks I'm a troll." muttered Toko Fukawa.

"You don't look anything like a mountain troll," Karasu told her seriously with a deadpanned expression.

"What?" Toko asked confused.

"Why not take a picture?" demanded Byakuya Togami.

"Can I help you?" asked Kyoko Kirigiri.

"Just teasing." giggled Sayaka Maizono.

"If you are quite done flirting, we can move on to weightier matters." Byakuya interrupted.

"Such as?" Makoto asked.

Byakuya sighed in exasperation before he explained, "Such as our current quandary. Someone has collected us here for a reason."

Toko clutched her head and expressed, "We're all essentially prisoners!"

"You'd think the least they could do is give me back my cell phone. It's like, totally barbaric." Junko complained. That said everyone frantically checked their pockets in search of their phones. Karasu searched her bag and pulled out a flip phone. A toy flip phone.

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked when he sensed her anger. Then she had an idea. Her enraged expression morphed into that insane grin of hers. She flicked her wrist and the toy flipped open. She brought it to her ear as Makoto watched her with a look of exasperation.

"Hello?" Karasu said aloud. The effect was instantaneous; everyone dropped their search for their phone and glanced at her hopefully. They spotted the orange and purple object in her hand instantly and looked away annoyed.

"Ya think that's funny bitch?!" Mondo yelled angrily. Karasu grin fell away instantly and she looked at Mondo in fear. She darted behind Makoto to hide, but it was a futile effort seeing that she is taller than him.

"My phone is missing as well. Does that mean they have been confiscated?" Sakura asked to return everyone's focus to the situation at hand.

"Yeah no, there's no way. They'll give us our stuff back after orientation, I'm sure of it," Yasuhiro said, "In fact, it's already been foretold!"

"Dude please, a crystal ball?" Leon asked exasperated. Karasu glared at the glass ball as if it had personally insulted her.

"I'm dead on thirty percent of the time!" Yasuhiro declared proudly.

Touko scoffed. "Isn't that impressive?" She mocked. Karasu giggled from behind Makoto.

Yasuhiro groaned. Then the sound of a malfunctioning microphone echoed across the room and everyone flinched or covered their ears.

"Testing. Mic test, mic test. One, Two. Anybody hear me okay on this thing?" Asked a disembodied whimsical, childish voice, it grunted then continued, "Hiya kiddos! Time to roll out the welcome wagon! Not literally, of course. I'm not sure what that means literally, but you get it."

"See we are not prisoners! This is just how they do things here at Hope's Peak!" Yasuhiro announced.

"Well, you're half right," Kyoko stated. Makoto and Karasu glanced at her out of the corner of their eyes'.

Then for one reason or another, all eyes focused on the podium sitting upon the stage, expecting someone to be standing there. No one was there until a half-black-half-white teddy bear popped up and landed seated on the podium. One-half was the picture of innocence while the other half grinned maliciously at them.

"What the heck?" Makoto asked aloud, echoing everyone's confusion.

"I know what you are all thinking and no I am not a high tech build-a-bear reject," the bear told them as it waved its arms around then it popped up onto its feet, "I am the principal of this illustrious institution, Monokuma, pleased to meet ya!"

Hifumi screamed and said, "I had a nightmare just like this once!"

"Young man, some respect if you please? Monokuma, your principal!" Monokuma introduced himself again.

'This is… weird' Karasu thought.

Monokuma stood on the tips of his toes and waved his arms around again as he respond as if he had heard her thought, "Yes, yes, like nothing you've ever seen before. Uncanny, unsettling even! Yadda, yadda, movin' right along. Now all of you stand at attention, give principal your snappiest good morning!"

Kiyotaka immediately bowed and said, "Good morning, Principal Sir!"

Toko shrieked, "Please don't encourage it!"

"Eh. That will have to do, I suppose. Anyway, welcome bright young things to your new living quarters! Now before you get all uppity, rest assured it's for your own good. Mustn't like the outside world dull that dazzling inner spark! We got to keep that freshness sealed in." Monokuma explained.

"Hold on, we-" Makoto began only to be cut off by Junko's angry shout of, "I don't think so!"

"So now you're wondering how long you'll be guests of our program. Approximately… the rest of your lives!" Monokuma continued.

Everyone gasped but that only egged him on. Monokuma jumped up and down and exclaimed, "Oh yeah! By new living quarters, I mean permanent living quarters!"

"You- you can't be serious!" Leon exclaimed in disbelief.

"We'll be here forever?" Chihiro asked, sounding close to tears.

"Aw, don't fret. We have an astronomical budget. Your needs will be satisfied in perpetuity." Monokuma said in what he obviously thought was a comforting tone.

"That's not the issue. What if we have families?" Sayaka asked.

"No, just no." Junko refused.

"Excuse me! So the iron plates in our rooms, those are to shut us in." Makoto asked.

"Bingo! You're here for keepsies!" Monokuma confirmed, "Kick and scream all ya want, no one outside can hear ya!"

'But why iron plates and not iron bars?' Karasu thought, 'Wouldn't they both serve the same purpose?' She was about to ask Monokuma when Celestia said, "Forgive me if I suggest this to be less than ideal, but to spend the rest of our natural lives confined in a place like this.?"

Monokuma cleared his throat with a squeak, "Natural life? Oh, now that's rich. Actually, for those who wish to leave there is a loophole."

"Enlighten us," Byakuya asked in a fashion that made it sound more like an order.

"Good old fashioned murder!" Monokuma jumped off the podium and landed on the floor to exclaim with insane enthusiasm, "Yes! The student that kills a classmate, and gets away with it, will be permitted to leave scot free!"

Monokuma didn't wait to see the horrified looks on their faces and proceeded to explain the many possible methods to kill with obvious glee, "Pummel! Shiv! Bludgeon! Mutilate! Emulate! Exacerbate! Asphyxiate! No magic? Conjure it!"

Karasu flinched at the word magic as she realized that they were all at his mercy. Monokuma would provide everything they needed to sustain life, but not let them go free without being entertained.

Monokuma disappeared and reappeared with a squirming fish in his arms. "Know what you kids and these salmon have in common? Neither of you has the faintest notion how jingly the thought of watching you all slaughter each other makes me!"

He turned so his black side of his body that was grinning maliciously was facing them, "The best of the best, the crème of the crème forced into a gruesome free for all! Is there anything hotter?" He turned to face them again looking, as much as a robot could, like the thought gave him immense pleasure.

"You're crazy" Leon accused.

"But why, what could possible the point in making us kill?" Sayaka asked fearfully. 'What is the point?' Karasu wondered 'Only one way to find out, let's see how this plays out. After all, no one here came prepared to kill.'

"Yeah, what they said! If you think we are on board with this bullcrap, then you're out of your mind!" Hifumi ranted.

"Bullcrap, where do you get off talking like that to your principal?!" Monokuma scolded Hifumi, his one red eye glowing threateningly. "Love it or hate it, sweetie pies, from here on out this school is your entire world. Them's the breaks!" 'It would seem so,' Karasu mused silently 'unless we combine forces and destroy you, of course'.

"Look on the bright side! I'm letting you get away with murder! For real, so stop whining and start plotting!" Monokuma chirped happily.

"You want murder teddy-two-tone? Take this shit any further and you'll be victim number one!" Mondo threatened the bear to intimidate it.

Monokuma was having none of it, "Is that a threat? You gonna impale me on that pompadour?" he asked mockingly.

"Bitch, No! What I'm gonna do is tear you apart 'til nothing's left, but whatever is making you jabber! Mondo raged. Karasu flinched at the word 'bitch'.

"Erahh! School rules expressly state no harm must come to the principal under any circumstances!" Monokuma panicked and started beeping like a bomb getting ready to detonate.

"Uh, guys? What's that noise?" Mondo asked the others.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Kyoko gasped, "Oh no, toss him!"

Beep.. Beep.. Beep..

"Huh?" Mondo grunted.

"Trust me just do it!" Kyoko commanded. Mondo leaned back and hurls the bear into the air with all his might.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

KABOOM! Monokuma disappeared in a bright flash of light and heat. The resulting smoke of the explosion dissipated as the Ultimates gasped and shifted around nervously.

"This is real, isn't it?" Makoto asked no one in particular.

"It could have blown my face off!" Mondo panicked.

"So the teddy bear is kaput?" Chihiro asked shyly.

"Not a teddy bear! Monokuma!" the bear corrected and reappeared atop the podium, "Ta-da!"

'Well, teaming up to destroy him won't work. How many spares does he have anyway?' Karasu wondered.

"You son of a-" Mondo cursed in a fit of rage.

"Consider that a verbal warning, young man. Get smart with me again any of you, and let's just say around here forgo written warnings in favor of instant corporal punishment!" Monokuma threatened.

"This now concludes the introductory portion of your orientation, boys and girls! Here's to you all enjoying a fun, fulfilling, and not exactly long scholastic enrichment year at Hope's Peak High!" Monokuma said cheerfully as he disappeared, leaving uneasy students in his wake.

Celeste summarized the speech as she twisted her hair around her finger, "So if I understand this correctly, to make it out of this place we are to kill."

Kiyotaka growled, "This is absolutely bogus!"

"No, it's a joke," Chihiro whined.

"Ha! A joke it very well be, but that doesn't alleviate my concern as to one of you takes it at face value." Byakuya shared with everyone.

'Great job, Byakuya! Combining our efforts to find an alternate way out has been all but destroyed. Bravo!' Karasu thought sarcastically, and rolled her eyes.

She spotted Aoi and Sakura out of the corner of her eye standing atop the bleachers. Sakura was in a combat stance, then with a battle cry, lashed out with a punch that resulted in a shockwave.

"It appears my strength is insufficient." Sakura deadpanned. 'Okay then. Note to self: stay on Sakura's good side.' Karasu thought.

A sound that was reminiscent of a computer booting up was heard throughout the gym as the digital notebooks power up. Karasu decided that her priority was to explore and find food, medicine, and a safe place to sleep. Corporation at this point in time was essential. Safe as well, all things considered, no one truly wanted to kill yet.

"Nothing" Aoi reported.

"Same here" Mondo reported as well. He kicked the podium on the stage, while he cursed under his breath. Leon picked up the microphone as he investigated the same podium.

Kiyotaka shouted encouragement to everyone in the room. "Bah! Don't lose heart friends! If we persevere the way out is bound to present itself!"

Aoi made a noise of agreement. "I'm with captain pep talk! Better to stay positive then spin our wheels!"

"I agree," Sakura said.

"Yeah, fine. Leave no stone unchecked right?" Leon asked no one in particular.

"I'd prefer to search alone," Byakuya stated as he addressed the group.

"Think that's smart?" Junko asked him.

"I do, yes, considering that one or more of you might already be planning my untimely demise." Byakuya retorted as he walked toward the exit.

"Oh come on," Sayaka said exasperatedly.

"Only a fool would deny it," Byakuya said to defend his point of view as he passed her.

"Whoa, there pal! You can't just do whatever you want!" Mondo countered.

Byakuya scoffed. "Out of my way, Narwhale." Mondo's face contorted with rage as he cracked his knuckles.

"Ohh! Your paranoia is about to be right on!" Mondo threatened.

"Hold up guys! The last thing we want to do is fight." Makoto said in a futile attempt to stop the fight. He was rewarded for his efforts with Mondo turning his wrath upon him.

"Say what!" Mondo turned to face Makoto, "The hell you think you are punk? You wanna lecture me? GIVE ME A LESSON ON TEAMWORK?" Mondo yelled in Makoto's face.

Makoto backed up quickly when he realized that he was in danger. He threw his hands up and waved them between Mondo and him as if that would ward off the inevitable punch.

"No, I-" Makoto started to say, only to be interrupted by a cry of 'shut up' before he fainted. Mondo's punch missed him completely. Everyone's look of fear changed swiftly to a bemused expression when Makoto hit the ground.

'He really is lucky' Karasu thought to herself. Mondo meanwhile, was horrified by what just happened and just stood there stuttering. Sayaka ran to Makoto's side and attempted to lift him. The best she could do was lift his torso off the gymnasium floor.

"Let us help," Aoi said to Sayaka and she nods. Aoi and Sayaka hoisted him up between them, so only his feet were dragging on the floor now. They began their struggle to the hallway and find somewhere for him to recuperate.

Sakura decided that watching her new friends struggle was unacceptable and promptly relieved them of their burden. They all left the gym together; Sakura was carrying Makoto bridal style. Everyone else stood in place and watched them leave. Then Byakuya suddenly followed, presumably to begin his search alone.

"Why are you following me you imbecile! I will not be alone with anyone. Anyone of you could be planning my death." Byakuya lectured Karasu, who was following him.

He stopped and she walked in front of him. She stared him straight in the eyes. 'He really believes that the only way out is to kill. He won't kill right now; there is the second part to rule 6 that remains unknown. He doesn't care about us. He sees this as a game. A game to be won. He's despicable!' Karasu thought as her expression slowly turned to one of disgust and anger.

*SLAP*

Karasu had slapped him. "And here I thought you were smart," Karasu said with a disappointed sigh and walk out of the gym while she ignored Byakuya's splutters of indignation.

After they searched the school for a bit, they met up in the cafeteria to discuss what they found. Karasu stood behind Byakuya to keep an eye on him when Makoto, who had regained consciousness, arrived with Sayaka to meet up.

"Oh hey, there's the man of the hour! You okay?" Aoi asked Makoto as he walked to an open seat.

"Sure am. Never better." Makoto replied as he took the open chair next to Mondo.

Mondo added what could have been his version of an apology, "So let's just chalk the whole thing up to stress."

"Yeah, no worries Mondo, I mean we're all on edge. Tempers flare up sometimes." Makoto said.

"I doubt any of us would kill in front of witnesses. That is to say that under present circumstances, safety in numbers would seem to hold true." Celestia thought aloud.

"But what's stopping us from killing all the witnesses? What stopping us from killing everyone else?" Karasu asked as she tilted her head in a bird-like fashion. She heard with a buzz from her bag and saw the horrified look from her classmates. She reached into bag and pulled out her digital notebook.

_Regulation 8: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two persons during any single "killing game," unless clearly stated otherwise._

"Well there is Regulation 8." Karasu answered as she slipped her digital notebook back into her bag.

"What the F-," Mondo began when Celestia interrupted, "Ah! I see. You tricked Monokuma into creating a regulation that would protect us."

"I did?" Karasu asked. She thought she saw Celestia's pleasant smile waver for a millisecond, but this was the Ultimate Gambler. Her poker face was unbreakable.

"Got something to say, Mondo?" Karasu asked innocently.

"Grr- it's nothing." Mondo replied.

"Right, listen up! I hereby call to order the first Hope's Peak High School Briefing on Academy affairs." Kiyotaka announced, "Let's review the present state of our intel."

Celeste and Mondo investigated the entrance hall, Aoi and Sakura found a stairwell leading up blocked by a security gate, Hifumi lazed about in his dorm, and Chihiro searched the kitchen and learned from Monokuma that the freezer, refrigerator, produce, and pantry would be restocked depending on how much they all ate the previous day.

"There is an incinerator by the dorms. Monokuma told me that only one of us will be on trash duty for a week. I volunteered to go first." Karasu added.

"I volunteer to go second!" Hifumi exclaimed.

"Anything else to report?" Kiyotaka asked.

Touko added quite rudely, "Report. We are still in the dark about who's behind all this and we're still trapped. This investigation was a waste of time."

"No, some useful information was gleaned from our joint effort. We now know the boundaries of our confinement and that we will be here for a while." Celestia countered.

Touko screamed "Stop! I'm having a nervous breakdown!" She rubbed her head with her hands as if to straighten out her thoughts.

"Monokuma has made that perfectly clear. From where else should the incentive come for us to kill?" Byakuya asked.

"That's not something to joke about." Junko retorted with a scowl on her face.

Leon clutched his head and asked in desperation, "Oh man, what are we going to do?"

It was Celestia who answered, "Adapt I suppose." She was the picture of calm and collected.

"What?" Junko asked angrily.

"These aren't such bad arrangements."

"So we just suck it up and get used to being prisoners!?"

"In the game of survival neither the strongest nor smartest have the advantage, but rather those most willing and able to adapt, the most pliable." Uneasy murmurs were heard throughout the room. "With that chestnut in mind, I would like to offer everyone if I may, a modest suggestion."

"Yeah, and what would that be?" Mondo asked.

"You will note in the rules a designated curfew. Why not make an addendum to these so called night hours?" Celestia proposed.

"Like what exactly?" Junko asked haughtily.

"At night we all stay in our rooms, simple as that." Celestia replied calmly.

"What? What would even be the point?" Toko asked.

"Think about it, my dears. Given this predicament, the dark hours will be especially hard on our nerves as it is. The tiniest sound will persuade a foul is afoot." Celestia explained. Her explanation was met with terrified gasps.

"Now, needless to say, that must be self-imposed. It's only means of enforcement will be peer pressure." Celestia finished.

After the meeting ended, everyone went their separate ways. Karasu headed to her dorm room and locked the door behind her. Exhausted, she fell backward onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She thought about the day's events.

'The only one I am concerned about is Byakuya and Celestia. They are both pretty even-tempered and intelligent. Byakuya willing to play the game, but he won't kill so soon. Celestia is also a potential hazard, but only when motivated. Everyone else seems not to be a hazard yet.' Karasu thought.

But that was not the only thing on her mind. She wanted to know why she reacted to the word magic in such a way.

"I can understand why I would react to bitch that way. It is an insult after all, but the way I reacted to it suggests that my parents or guardians abused me.", Karasu said, "But why magic?" She flinched again.

Suddenly remembering that she had yet to familiarize herself with the regulations, Karasu whipped out her digital notebook and navigated to the rulebook tab.

_Regulation 1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time._

_Regulation 2: "Nighttime" is from 10 PM to 7 AM. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution._

_Regulation 3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly._

_Regulation 4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak at your discretion._

_Regulation 5: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is the destruction of surveillance cameras._

_Regulation 6: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered._

_Regulation 7: Additional school regulations may be added if necessary._

_Regulation 8: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two persons during any single "killing game," unless clearly stated otherwise._

'Are these loopholes intentional?!' Karasu wondered with a grimace. She rolled off her bed and walked to the bathroom to wash herself. She along brought a change of clothes.

Once she locked the bathroom door she stripped and turned on the shower when she noticed a large scar on her right arm and just how visible her ribs were. It appeared to have once been a puncture wound and it appeared that she must have been starved and made a mental note to eat balanced meals. She turned on the warm water and took the hair tie out of her hair. She placed her glasses next to the bathroom sink.

Karasu decided to relieve herself before entering the shower to give the water time to warm up to the desired temperature. As she sat on the toilet, she noticed a security camera in the corner of the room. Her face flushed and she glared.

"Pervert," she muttered under her breath and she felt a tingling in her veins. Unbeknownst to Karasu, a certain someone could no longer see into her bathroom. The camera had been temporarily disabled.

Karasu then washed her hands then stepped under the flow of warm water to wash herself. After washing her hair and body she dried herself off with a towel. As she finished dressing herself she felt the tingling in her veins again and the camera was functioning again. The mastermind would dismiss the incident as a technological failure, for now.

As Karasu brushed her hair, she noticed that a mark that was once concealed by her bangs. She lifted her bangs and found a scar in the middle of her forehead. A scar that appeared fresh as if it had just begun to heal, a scar in the shape of a bolt of lightning. She doesn't remember anything that had touched or carved that mark on to her forehead. 'I couldn't have happened while I was awake, so it must have happened while I was unconscious or before I was caught in this elaborate scheme.' Karasu reasoned.

Her hair reasonably dry, Karasu returned to her room just about ready to fall asleep. She dragged her feet all the way to her bed, tucked herself in, and began to dream.

She dreamed of a brown eyed girl with bushy brown hair and a blue eyed boy with red hair.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	2. The Search

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

Karasu bolted upright, she was covered in sweat and her eyes watered. The girl and boy from her dream, whose appearances was already fading away, had been yelling at her. They had asked her why she left them behind. Unable to hold back her tears anymore, she cried. She screamed to the heavens that she was sorry for something she doesn't remember.

"I'm sorry I left you behind," she whispered before she wailed. Her doorbell rang. Karasu wiped her eyes before she answered the door.

"Hello," she greeted Kiyotaka, "How can I help you?"

"You are late for our morning meeting!" He shouted back oblivious to her prior despair. 'So our dorm rooms are soundproof' Karasu thought. Their eyes met. Karasu suddenly knew why he was so obsessed with rules. He was trying to restore his family's honor that was lost during his grandfather's scandal that forced his grandfather to step down from his position, but most importantly his hatred for that word.

"Is it that time already?-" Karasu asked conversationally.

"Yes," Kiyotaka answered immediately, unintentionally cutting her off.

"-Well then, just let me get ready and I will be right down." Karasu continued as if she had never been interrupted with a smile. She would have snapped at him if it weren't for her 'discoveries' as she was beginning to call them.

"Excellent! See you in the Cafeteria." He shouted and walked back to the cafeteria.

Karasu quickly shut the door and rushed around as she got dressed, brushed her hair, put on her glasses, and rushed out of her dorm room. She locked the door behind her a placed her dorm key into her bag with the toy phone, orientation invitation, and her digital notebook.

Karasu walked straight to the cafeteria in less than a minute. She noticed that everyone else was already there and was waiting for her before they could begin their morning meeting. She waved a quick greeting before she walked to stand behind Byakuya as Kiyotaka began to address them.

"Right then. Now that everyone is here, we can begin the search anew," Kiyotaka shouted, "Before we part I just have two things to say. One, everyone is to meet back here at 9:30 PM to share what they found."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Two," Kiyotaka began, "Karasu!" Karasu stood at attention.

"Be sure not to be late again!" He shouted.

"Aye Aye, Captain!" Karasu chirped happily and with that everyone began to disburse. Aoi cornered Sakura to propose searching the school together again. Karasu crept up behind them and put one hand on each of their shoulders.

"Got room for one more party member?" Karasu asked the duo with a smile.

"The more the merrier!" Aoi replied cheerfully.

"I have no objections to this arrangement," Sakura replied in her usual fashion.

"Greet! Do you guys want to help me cook breakfast? I haven't had anything to eat yet." Karasu proposed.

"We have already eaten but we'll make tea." Aoi agreed and with that, the trio entered the kitchen. Aoi and Sakura want to make tea while Karasu gathered eggs, bacon, strawberries, a single piece of bread, salt, pepper, butter, a frying pan, spatula, small knife, cutting board, plate, and a butter knife.

Karasu started the bacon first and cut off the strawberries' tops. Once the bacon had become crispy she set it on her plate along with the strawberries. She placed the bread in the toaster to toast and cracked open 3 eggs over the frying pan. Once the eggs were scrambled and seasoned and the toast was buttered and cut in half were both on her plate, she walked out into the cafeteria to enjoy her breakfast and Aoi's tea. She had not noticed the dirty dishes float over to the sink and wash themselves.

"I smell bacon!" Aoi squealed.

"Aoi, do you want some? I made extra." Karasu asked.

"Call me Hina. That's what my friends call me," Aoi- Hina said, "And I would love some."

"Would you like some, Sakura?" Karasu asked.

"I am content drinking this lovely brew." Sakura politely declined. Hina seemed to glow at the compliment.

As she ate her breakfast, she listened to Hina and Sakura talk. Her eyes met with Hina's and she learned that she wanted to see her younger brother, Yuta, again. As she glanced at Sakura she learned that her family owned a dojo for nearly three centuries. At that moment, the world felt cold, unwelcoming to Karasu. Even if she escaped, where would she go? She ate faster to distract herself.

Karasu choked on her last bite. Sakura patted her on the back firmly and Karasu wondered if her spine would ever be the same.

"You shouldn't eat so fast." Hina scolded Karasu.

"I know. I just got lost in thought," Karasu reached for her tea and sipped, "This tea is great, what kind is it?"

"Sencha," Hina answered.

"I have been meaning to ask, but where are you from?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, I was adopted." Karasu invented.

"You sound like one of those British characters from the movies," Hina observed, "Like James Bond."

"So I'm from Britain? Thanks, I have been wondering where I'm from," Karasu said happily, "I'll go wash our dishes and then we'll go explore, yes?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Hina agreed.

Karasu gathered the dishes and walked into the kitchen to wash the dishes and found that all of the dishes she left on the counter were placed on the drying rack, clean. She began to wash the remaining dirty dishes she carried in her arms. Meanwhile, Sakura and Hina whispered to each other.

"It doesn't make sense! She is an orphan but she still has her accent and she didn't mention of moving to a different country!" Hina vented to Sakura.

"And we will be there when she is ready to confide in us," Sakura said in an attempt to placate her.

"Hey, guys! You may want to check this out." Karasu called from the kitchen. Hina and Sakura walked in to join her.

"What is it?" Hina asked as they drew near.

Karasu tossed her the empty bacon package, "What's missing?" she asked. Hina and Sakura inspected the package then looked up at Karasu for an explanation.

"There is no best by date sticker." She said, exasperated. Sakura and Hina studied the package more closely and discovered that she was absolutely right, but there was evidence suggesting that there was once such a sticker.

"Hey Monokuma! I have a question!" Karasu shouted.

"What's the question?" Monokuma asked when he appeared behind her.

"Is the food still good?" She asked.

"Yes, in fact, the stuff that goes bad is automatically removed and disposed of overnight." Monokuma answered then turned, "Excuse me." He left.

"Good news, we haven't been poisoned," Karasu announced, "bad news, the kitchen hasn't been as thoroughly searched as we thought."

The three girls spent their time searching the kitchen together until 5:30 PM. They had found that all frozen meat, canned goods, and dry goods have had their stickers removed or the best by date on the wrapper illegible due to a certain someone taking a permanent marker. Why had the mastermind gone to all the trouble to hide the best by dates?

They were all seated around the table discussing just that when Kiyotaka entered the room.

"What's this!? I'm not the first to arrive!" He shouted.

"Hey, Taka, I can call you Taka right? I'm early, and early is never late right? Karasu greeted him.

"I suppose that is true… BUT I CANNOT BE OUT DONE! I MUST BE THE FIRST TO ARRIVE!" Taka shouted passionately. Hina and Sakura looked startled by his sudden declaration, but Karasu was relaxed, almost as if she anticipated such a reaction.

"So what did you discover during your investigation?" Karasu asked conversationally.

"HALT! We shall not discuss this until everyone else has arrived!" Taka declared.

"Okay." Karasu said calmly and stood up, "I will be prepare dinner." She walked into the kitchen before anyone could protest.

When she came back out with some pot of soup, bowls, napkins, spoons, and a serving spoon everyone else had arrived. She passed out fifteen bowls, napkins, and spoons. She then pushed the cart around and served everyone soup. She served herself last. Steam rose from all of the bowls as she covered the pot with the lid and hooked the serving spoon on the cart.

Karasu took her seat next to Byakuya, "Alright, let's-"

"Absolutely not," Byakuya interrupted her, "you could have poisoned it." Some of their classmates looked shocked- and some even looked betrayed- at the thought.

"And why would I do that? In front of witnesses no less. Where would I get the 'poison'?" Karasu retorted fiercely. Byakuya had no answer and Karasu took his silence as a sign to continue, "And even if I poisoned it, why would I poison all of you? It's against the rules."

"You could have added the poison after you left the kitchen." He replied in a smug, superior tone, "and I can't help but notice you are the only one without a bowl."

"And you all are witnessed me serving the soup." Karasu countered. She reached into her bag and removed the contents. She shook her bag upside down to emphasize its emptiness. They all stared at the toy phone (Mondo scowled at it), dorm key, trash room key, digital notebook, and a sheet of paper. There was nothing in there that could have once contained poison.

"What's the paper?" Leon asked.

"It's my orientation letter" Karasu replied as she held it up for them to read. Kyoko noted that her name was written on it in the same handwriting as the rest of the letter and appeared to match the handwriting on her own, but she doesn't remember her name being present in her own letter.

"Whoa, yours's has the childish drawing too!" Yasuhiro exclaimed.

Karasu eyes widened then narrowed. She deadpanned, "Of course it's childish, the mastermind tried too hard."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean!?" Monokuma shouted from beside Toko, who jumped in fright.

"It means that maybe if you put less effort into making childish a childish piece of work maybe you will be able to make something decent," Karasu retorted, "grow up and get a makeover while you're at it." Junko looked mortified for some reason.

"Just hearing you say that hurts my feelings," Monokuma said as a cloud of gloom hovered over his head. Kyoko noted that he did not attempt to deny it. He wailed of he ran out of the cafeteria and disappeared. Leon jumped up and gave chase, but he returned to his seat.

"He's gone." He growled and everyone sighed in exasperation.

"Satisfied?" Karasu asked haughtily as she snatched her bag from Byakuya's grasp, He had taken it to investigate while everyone was distracted by Monokuma, and stuffed all her possessions back into her bag. She walked to the cart and pushed it towards a nearby garbage can and heaved the pot to the rim of it. She removed the lid and dumped the soup into the garbage can.

"Why would you do that?!" Hifumi asked. Karasu eyes glowed ominously as they stared daggers at him and he shivered in fear.

"No one will be getting seconds. Make your own meal, and next time," Karasu said coldly before she shouted, "DON'T INSULT THE CHEF!"

She sets the pot back onto the cart and pushed the cart toward to kitchen and said, "You guys are now in charge of the dishes."

She entered the kitchen left them all in an uneasy silence. Celestia broke that silence with a giggle.

"My, my, we shouldn't anger that one again," she said serenely. That didn't ease any tension in the air. Kyoko dipped her spoon into the soup and placed it into her mouth. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she placed her spoon back into her bowl. The soup was delicious, but why was it so cold? It had been the perfect temperature barely a minute ago.

"Aw, the soup cold now. I bet it would have been a thousand times better warm." Yasuhiro complained.

"Right then, did anyone find anything worth reporting?" Taka asked the remaining students in the room.

"I got nothing" Leon stated

"We didn't either," Makoto said and gestured to himself and Sayaka.

"We did," Hina said quietly, but everyone heard her. They all turned their heads to gaze at her and silence was reintroduced to the room. Not an uneasy silence like before, but one of anticipation and excitement.

"More accurately, Karasu found it," Sakura added solemnly, "She discovered it in the kitchen."

"Is it a way out?" Leon asked in desperation. He was desperate for an escape and didn't know how much more of this he could take.

"No", Hina answered, "unfortunately."

"It's just a sticker," Karasu informed as she left the kitchen with a single slice of bread. She did not pause when Makoto called out to her as she made her way to exit the cafeteria. It appeared she was still upset about earlier.

"Continue." Kyoko urged Hina.

"Yeah, you know the stickers they put on some food items tell you when eaten by?" Hina asked, "Well, they are gone."

Yasuhiro and Hifumi spat out their soup.

"What?!" They both yelled.

"She was trying to poison us!" Yasuhiro shouted in a panic.

"We are all gonna die!" Hifumi screamed a few octaves higher than normal.

Hina sweat dropped at their antics. "No you're not, Karasu ask Monokuma herself." She stated in an attempt to calm Yasuhiro and Hifumi down.

"Shut up you fucking waste of air!" Celestia screamed in fury and her dress soaked in soup, "This better not stain my dress or I'll have your heads!"

Both Hifumi and Yasuhiro jumped back in horror. In the place of the calm and collected girl they had come to know, stood a raging demon. Her eyes begged for blood.

"Well, if you're that concerned about the possibility of a stain, maybe you should go wash it," Kyoko stated bluntly. Celestia ran from the room, but not before she swore to take revenge. For the time being, a crisis had been averted. 'If all of the Ultimates are this… unique then I might go insane' Makoto thought as he sweat dropped.

"THERE'S NO DRY CLEANER!" The demon was back. Yasuhiro and Hifumi scrambled away as fast as they could. People were pushed aside. Chairs were kicked out of the way. Tables were overturned. Yasuhiro jumped over a table to escape Celestia's wrath, but Hifumi wasn't so lucky. He had been caught. Celestia grabbed his head and shook it like a child trying to figure out what was inside a present.

"VIOLENCE ON SCHOOL GROUNDS! I WILL NOT TOLERATE IT!" Taka shouted. He stood and walked in front of the exit to the main hall, "NO ONE IS ALOUD TO LEAVE UNTIL THIS ROOM IS SPOTLESS!"

Mondo proceeded to get into an argument with Taka, Junko whined like a spoiled brat, Celeste continued to punish Hifumi, and everyone else set to work with reluctance. After they finished straightening out the cafeteria Junko shouted: "Nose goes". Everyone immediately touched their nose well at least attempted to anyway.

Makoto yelped in pain when he somehow managed to miss his nose entirely and poked himself in the eye. "Looks like you'll be washing the dishes," Junko announced before she strutted out of the cafeteria.

Sayaka walked into the kitchen with Makoto to help with the dishes as everyone else left the cafeteria. Junko walked to the storage room to check out the makeup situation. It would be a disaster if she ran out of foundation. She was surprised to find Karasu there with a notebook in her arms.

"Oh hello," Karasu grumbled, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm just checking out the makeup to see if there is stock of my usual brand," Junko answered. Karasu eyes widened and one hand pushed her bangs out of the way to reveal a scar shaped like a bolt of lightning in the center of her forehead. It was an unusual place for a scar but she had seen stranger before.

"What brand of foundation would you recommend to cover this up?" Karasu asked.

"I wouldn't cover it up. It shows that you are a survivor. I wish I had the same luxury..." Junko trailed off wistfully.

"But you're a model. You aren't supposed to have scars." Karasu said before she asked, "I have been meaning to ask but why do you look so different in the magazines? Your chest isn't as large and your eyes aren't as round… Are those freckles?"

Junko blushed before she replied, "I have seen soldiers before and they had scars, but they wore them with pride. Also, they Photoshop the crap out of the magazine photos, but I'm impressed you noticed my freckles even when I was wearing foundation."

"You shouldn't cover up your freckles they're adorable!" Karasu scolded with a blush as she tried pushing her bangs behind her ears. Her hair was as stubborn as always. The moment she removed her hands, the bangs popped back into place. Her hair looked as unruly as ever.

"It's no use…" Karasu began before Junko slipped behind her to mess with her hair, "What are you doing?" She didn't get an answer. Once Junko was finished messing with her hair she said: "Hold this."

Karasu found herself holding the end of a braid as Junko ran deeper into the room as she searched for something. She came back with a five hair bands, four of which she shoved into Karasu's bag, and a mirror. She took the braid from Karasu and secured it with the hair band. She held up the mirror for Karasu to see her new look.

"What do you think?" Junko asked with a genuine smile on her face not that Karasu noticed. She was focused on her reflection in the mirror as she turned her head from side to side to inspect every angle.

"I like- no- love it!" Karasu squealed excitedly and threw herself forward, surprising Junko with a hug. Junko stiffened as if she were about to attack before she relaxed and hugged her back.

"I'll think about your suggestion, but in the meantime why don't you show off your new look. I'll braid your hair every morning if you like." Junko said.

"Okay!" Karasu exclaimed before she rushed out with her new notebook, and was so excited that she forgot to say goodbye to Junko.

The first two people she ran into were Sayaka and Makoto. They were left the cafeteria together because they had finished washing the dishes. They were both surprised to see Karasu so chipper when she had left them just a short while ago she was upset at everyone, but most importantly.

"Arrah! What happened to your forehead!?" Makoto and Sayaka screamed as one.

"Junko braided my hair! How do I look?" Karasu asked.

"Junko hurt you!?" Sayaka shouted in alarm.

"Weren't you listening? I said she braided my hair." Karasu repeated in annoyance before she asked, "Are you talking about my scar?"

"Yes!" Sayaka shouted in exasperation.

"Oh. That was there when I woke up. I think-" Karasu began to explain before Yasuhiro appeared and screamed.

Several other who were not in their dorm rooms came running. Leon, Hifumi, and Chihiro shouted, "Are you okay Karasu?!"

Junko came walking by just to see what the commotion was about. "Why is everyone so surprised? All I did was braid her hair."

That only made things worse. Yasuhiro, Leon, Hifumi, and Chihiro promptly came to the same conclusion Sayaka did and screamed, "Why would you do that!?"

"ENOUGH! EVERYONE MEET ME IN THE CAFETERIA AND I EXPECT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU TO SIT SILENTLY AS I EXPLAIN. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" Karasu shouted in rage. It only took two minutes for everyone to arrive. Karasu was still shaking in rage as the last one, Byakuya, to arrive.

"Now listen up. Junko braided my hair. That does not mean she is responsible for this." she gestured to her forehead, "I woke up and this mark was already there. I think I got it when I was kidnapped. Now I believe some of you owe Junko an apology. See you tomorrow." Karasu said in a voice of eerie calm before she turned and left the cafeteria. The remaining students sat in silence until they heard the sound of a door slamming in the distance.

Slowly they all got up and walked out of the room. Sayaka, Chihiro, Leon, Yasuhiro, and Hifumi all apologized to Junko before they left. Junko left shortly after.

Karasu, on the other hand, had decided to take a shower to calm down. She was standing under the warm water naked as slowly calmed down. After she washed herself, she left the bathroom fully clothed with her hair wrapped in a towel. She then jumped onto her bed with her notebook. She reached into her bag to pull out a pen that she had taken from the storage room. She began to write.

_I woke up yesterday in a classroom all alone with no memories. I went to the gym and met 15 other students in the same condition. Apparently, I am a student of Hope's Peak Academy. I have a lightning bolt scar on my forehead that I believe occurred when I was kidnapped to participate in this 'spectacle'. I also have a scar on my upper right arm and my ribs are visible. I think I was stabbed at some point in my arm and that I have been starved recently. This 'spectacle' I am forced to participate in what I believe to be a killing game for the mastermind's enjoyment. I also had a dream last night with a boy and girl in it, neither are stuck in the 'spectacle' with me. I will write more as I discover more._

She set the book down on the bedside table and removed the towel from my hair. Karasu hung the towel in the bathroom and brushed her hair. She then locked her door. Karasu slowly walked to her bed yawning when Monokuma began to speak.

*Diiiing doooong diiiing doooong*

"Ahem, may I have your attention, please? The time is now 10:00 PM. "Night Time" is now in effect. The cafeteria is now off-limits, and the door will be locked momentarily. And with that, I wish you all a good night. Sweet dreams…" Monokuma announced over the communication system throughout the school.

Karasu however, had not heard the entire announcement; she had fallen sound asleep in her bed and had begun dreaming.

_Karasu stood in a circular room with five four poster beds all alone. Her hair was pulled back into a single braid and the scar on her forehead was clearly visible and wore a light gray tank top, black skinny jeans, and red track shoes. She was holding a stack of old parchment. Each page was covered in handwritten notes._

_"Dobby!" she called. She heard a loud crack that reminded her of a sound a car made when it backfired._

_"How can Dobby help miss - -?" the shorter humanoid creature asked after it appeared in front of her. It wore a colorful pair of mismatched of socks and a pillow case. Its eyes were as large as tennis balls and green, it's nose was long and pencil-like, and had two bat-like pointed ears._

_"I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" Karasu asked the creature, Dobby._

_"Dobby will do - - a favor. Dobby will always be there for - -."_

_"Thanks, I would like it if you could give Ron and Hermione these defense notes for me next year when they are alone in the Gryffindor Common Room? And don't let anyone see them until then. And you better take care of yourself. Just because I asked a favor doesn't mean you can neglect your needs."_

_"Of course - - miss, but why can't - - do it?"_

_Karasu took a deep breath and said in a rush, "Because I won't be returning to - next year." Dobby looked shocked and she rushed on with her explanation. What she said next was garbled and distorted, but she occasionally caught tidbits of the explanation. She caught words like 'Cedric', 'prophecy', and 'Horcrux'. Dobby was in tears by the time she was finished._

_"Do you understand?" she asked Dobby and he nodded. Karasu bent down to hug the crying creature._

_"Please don't tell anyone what I just said. You may tell Dumbledore, but only if he promises not to interfere," she said and he nodded again. She straightened up and held out the parchment. He took it._

_"Wait a moment; I got one more thing I want you to deliver to Ron and Hermione." Karasu turned around and retrieved a black piece of parchment from her trunk. She held it out for Dobby to take but pulled it back when Dobby reached out to take it._

_"Sorry." she tried to give it to Dobby, but yet again she pulled it back._

_"Dobby understands." He said with tears in his eyes and he turned on the spot with a-_

*Diiiing doooong diiiing doooong*

_-Diiiing doooong diiiing doooong?_

"Good morning, you guys! It is now 7:00 AM! Rise and shiiiine! Let's make today into the best day it can be!" Monokuma said quite cheerfully as he woke everyone up. Karasu sat up, stretched, and yawned. 'That was an odd dream, but it feels like I have had this dream before' she thought.

She lunged for her notebook and wrote every detail she could remember of the dream she just had before it had the chance to fade away. 'Ron and Hermione, are those the names of the people in my dream the night before?' Karasu wondered as she got ready. She left her dorm and walked to the cafeteria to meet up with everyone as agreed. It was to reassure them that all was well and that everyone was still alive. Everyone else had already arrived. Karasu was late again.

"At least you are making an effort to be on time. You took fifteen minutes less to get here than yesterday." Taka said. Karasu walked to her spot behind Byakuya.

"Right then. We split up to search and report back here at 9:30 PM." Taka addressed the group, who nodded in agreement, "Then meeting adjourned!"

Everyone split into groups and went on their separate ways. Karasu decided to spend her time with Junko Enoshima looking at fashion magazines in the laundry room. Yasuhiro was there as well.

"So we aren't going to search the school?" Karasu asked.

"Nu-huh, if the mastermind actually-like- spent time removing stickers then I don't think there will be anything else left to find," Junko explained as she braided her hair.

"That… makes sense." Karasu was unable to find an argument and resigned. "Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" she asked.

"I think I will be fine," Junko answered and refused to meet Karasu curious golden eyes. 'Now that I think about, Junko has never looked me in the eyes ever.' Karasu thought to herself, 'But I get the feeling that this conversation has ended and it would not be a good idea to press the matter.'

Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw it. That glass ball. A hot, irrational anger filled her entire being, and she lifted the ball over her head and prepared to hurl it at the wall.

"What are you doing?!" Junko screeched and snatched it from her grasp. Yasuhiro looked over his shoulder when he heard her screech and shouted, "Dude!?"

"What were you thinking?" Junko lectured her.

"I wasn't, I just looked at it," Karasu pointed at the sphere, "and I just felt so angry." Junko and Yasuhiro looked at her with disapproval and Karasu added, "I'm sorry."

They settled down and resumed their previous activities, but that didn't stop Yasuhiro's fearful glance or Junko's glare. After sitting in an awkward silence for what Karasu thought felt like forever she decided to walk around the hallways to cool down. Time seemed to fly and soon enough it was time to meet in the cafeteria.

"Grah! Dammit, I'm telling you no matter how many times I look I come up with squat!" Leon ranted.

"Same here," Yasuhiro said. Everyone groaned.

"We're stuck. We're never getting out of here. No one is coming to help us." Chihiro cried softly.

"Aw, chin up Chihiro!" Hina said and Chihiro stopped crying for a moment, "Someone on the outside is bound to start missing us soon!"

"Yes, of course!" Toko exclaimed as Junko asked, "Ya think so?"

"Huh? Well, we have been gone long enough to raise the alarm, we're talkin' three days!" Hina held up three fingers then she saluted, "The police are bound to be closing the net on this place!"

Monokuma's laughter was heard at the other end of the table several students jumped up in alarm. "Dear oh dear, you're not hedging your bet on law enforcement. Ya know, it's quite simple. If ya want out of here, all I got to see is a little initiative!" Monokuma explained.

Toko whimpered. Monokuma scoffed and said, "Well I gotta hand it to ya generation Z'ers, ya got balls when it comes to dealing with authority. Frankly, though the attitude only goes so far, you're boring me to tears."

"Cry then." Karasu said coldly as Makoto said, "If you think you can trick us into killing someone then you're crazier than I thought!"

"Erika! That's the problem! Granted my setup's perfect, the right atmosphere, a good balance of tension and intrigue, the perfect amount of pressure, but not the vital ingredient to bringing it all together!" Monokuma thought aloud to unnerve the students.

"What are you getting at, buddy bear?!" Leon demanded.

"Motivation son." Monokuma answered, "All students report to the multimedia room at once, for a brief, informative presentation on just what I mean!"

"Multimedia room?" Makoto asked.

They all rushed over to the multimedia room and they found a box full of discs, each labeled with one of their names. Karasu took hers and sat in front of Makoto and turned on the computer. There was a green light. She jumped up.

_"Cedric!" She screamed from where she stood in the graveyard as the green light hit him. She was helpless as he fell to the ground dead._

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked Karasu in concern. She was back in the multimedia room. She wasn't in a graveyard. There was no dead body in front of her.

"I -I'm fine." She stammered.

"You're shaking," Kyoko observed, not convinced. Everyone was looking at her concerned.

"I SAID I'M FINE!" Karasu shouted and plopped down into her seat and started the video.

She saw Monokuma seated on a throne.

"Who are you I wonder? Is Karasu Kanashimi even your real name? Why don't you remember anything? Well, I took your memories-" Whatever the bear said next, she never heard because at that moment her fist was plunged into the monitor. She broke it.

Yet again everyone stared. "Are you sure you're okay?" Makoto asked again. Karasu did not dignify that with a response and left. Her fist was bleeding and still clenched.

Hina and Sakura found her in the kitchen as she ate fish and chips that she had just made. She had was bandaged in red cloth and her skirt appeared to be cut about an inch above her kneecaps now.

"Would you like some tea to settle your nerves?" Sakura asked and did not mention her outburst earlier. 'That was wise on her part' Karasu thought as she nodded. Hina and Sakura made the tea while she washed the dishes.

"How does Royal milk tea sound? You two are nice enough to stay here, I should go all out." Hina asked.

"That sounds great!" Karasu said as she put the last dish she washed on the drying rack- the third smallest kitchen knife. The door opened and Sayaka entered.

"Oh hi, I just thought I'd get myself something to drink." she said.

Karasu walked over and grabbed her cup of tea. "Delicious!" she complimented Hina.

"Goodnight, sweet dreams," Sayaka said in farewell.

"Yes, good night," Sakura said.

"Huh, sure. Same to you." Hina wished.

"Back at you," Karasu replied as she left the kitchen. That's when she noticed the second largest knife was missing. 'She must have taken it for self-defence' Karasu thought and took another sip of her tea.

Sakura, Hina, and Karasu all had some delicious royal milk tea together. They all helped wash the remaining dishes and then they walked to Karasu's dorm room. That's when they heard the update.

"Attention students. Please be advised, as per the notices posted on your respective doors, while all dorm rooms are equipped with fully functioning showers, the water will be shut off at curfew. No exceptions. Additionally, bear in mind that only the showers located in the girl rooms have locks installed. Oh, and you'll find I'd left a small token of welcome for each and every one of you. I encourage you to let your imagination run wild." Monokuma announced.

"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?" Hina asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine," Karasu answered.

"If you need us, we will be in Hina's room," Sakura told her. She knew that if Karasu needed help she would come to them.

"Have a good night," Karasu said in farewell.

"Goodnight." Sakura and Hina said as one.

Karasu shut her door, locked it, and walked over to her bed. She took her bag off and placed it on her bedside table. She then proceeded to search for whatever Monokuma left for them. She found a sewing kit in the drawer next to her bed. Karasu looked down at her dress skirt and decided to hem it.

She opened and threw out the plastic wrapping around the box. Unfortunately, there was only white thread instead of red and there were no pins or scissors. Wishing for red thread, she felt the familiar tingle in her veins as the thread turned red right before her very eyes. Karasu blinked then rubbed her eyes. Nope, she wasn't seeing things. The thread had turned from white to red. It was like magic.

_"Yer' a witch -." A man twice the size of the average human with eyes that glinted like dark beetles._

'A witch? Does that mean I can use magic?' Karasu wondered as she stood up and walked over to her notebook. She wrote about Cedric and the man that told her she was a witch before she set her notebook back down. She kneeled on the floor with the sewing kit in front of her.

"If I can use magic, then I should be able to hem my skirt right?" Karasu asked no one in particular. Then she closed her eyes and frowned in concentration. She felt the tingling in her veins after some time. She opened her eyes.

She gasped. The spool of thread and the needle floated in midair. She jumped up and cheered as the needle and thread fell to the floor. She realized that was just about her limit at this point and went to work. She hemmed her skirt cheerfully. Once she finished, she put away the sewing kit and stood up to stretch. She walked over to her bed and climbed in. Sleep embraced her as she snuggled into the blankets.

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Karasu heard an eerie voice come from a thin woman draped in gauzy shawls. It felt like she was looking out from someone else's eyes._

Karasu bolted awake sweaty and shaking violently. 'What was that' Karasu wondered, horrified. She looked at the clock. It read 1:35 AM. She wrote down the words that she heard in her dream in hopes that would settle her nerves. It didn't.

She had the feeling that something was very wrong. 'Maybe a change of scenery will help' she thought as she opened the door. She shut the door at the same moment another closed his door. 'Leon? Did he have a nightmare too?' she wondered, 'I won't bug him. He seems about ready to collapse on his feet.'

Karasu walked around the hallways for a bit, but then she shivered violently. Every hair on her body stood on end as she turned to the right. 'Sayaka Room' she read and she shivered even more violently. She hugged herself and rubbed her arms to warm up. She reached out to knock on the Sayaka's door.

*Knock Knock* No one answered. She reached down and turned the handle. It opened easily and her sense of dread increased tenfold.

"Shouldn't this be locked?" Karasu asked herself aloud and entered.

Her eyes were drawn to the golden sword and it's sheath on the floor immediately, but nothing could prepare her for want she saw next. The bed was messed up. The walls and floors were slashed. The table was tilted on its side. There was a key on the floor. Something had happened here. She walked inside. She noticed the shower door knob screws were removed out of the corner of her eye.

She wanted to run, but something made her reach out to open the shower door.

*Rattle Rattle* It did not budge. She shook the handle, accidently lifting the door up and it swung open. Karasu screamed. The sword, sheath, key, and pillow were lifted up into the air. They levitated as Karasu took notice of them and ran out of the room. She was still screaming as the door slammed shut even though she did not touch it. She never saw the sword impaled itself into the shower door, the pillow exploded and all of the feathers inside impaled themselves into the walls and floor, the sheath launch itself onto the bed and the key impaled itself in the door that had just slammed shut only moments ago.

Karasu ran to Sakura's room and banged on the door with her uninjured hand. She was still screaming. 'Why won't Sakura answer!? Why!? Why!?' Karasu thought panicked. Then she remembered, 'Didn't she say she would be in Hina's room?'

Karasu ran to Hina's room and pounded both her fists on the door. Her bandaged hand started bleeding. The door was flung open and suddenly Sakura was there. She didn't realize it at first because her eyes were closed and tears flowed out from her eyes.

Her fist pounded on flesh and she heard Sakura ask gently "Karasu?" She wailed as she tried to say "I think Sayaka's dead!" Sakura didn't understand and asked her to repeat herself. Karasu was about to repeat herself when she fell forward in a dead faint.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	3. Helpless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

Sakura caught Karasu as she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

"What is it?" Hina asked fearfully. She had been startled awake by the sudden banging on the door.

"It's just Karasu, I think she had a nightmare," Sakura replied softly.

"Sakura, your shirt, there is blood on it!" Hina gasped.

"Not mine. Karasu was so upset she didn't notice I had opened the door and she was pounding on my chest. Her hand must have started bleeding when she hit the door," Sakura peeked around the door, "There's blood on the door as well."

"Well set her on the bed. She needs rest." Hina commanded, "And is there any way we can clean up the blood?"

"Not until curfew ends." Sakura answered, "We should try to get some more rest."

And with that Sakura, Hina, and Karasu were laid on the bed the latter were sound asleep on the bed. It was a very tight fit.

Sakura got up once she was sure that Hina and Karasu would not wake up and crept towards the gym. She had taken Hina's key so she would not be locked out. Monokuma was waiting for her to arrive. "What do you say? Will you be my spy?" He asked.

Sakura looked conflicted for only a millisecond before she replied "Yes."

"Good, good. Now another rule for you is to never under any circumstance look Karasu Kanashimi in the eyes." Monokuma ordered.

Sakura looked startled before she asked, "Why?"

"It's because of her talent." Monokuma replied, "She may have amnesia, but she is still is able to unintentionally use it. Wouldn't it be awful if one of your friends were… informed… about your betrayal?"

Sakura absorbed this in silence before she asked, "What exactly is her talent?"

"Sorry! That's classified!" Monokuma exclaimed cheerfully.

Sakura stood there silently as she realized she would not be given an answer and turned to return to Hina's room for the night.

*Diiiing doooong diiiing doooong*

"Good morning, you guys! It is now 7:00 AM! Rise and shiiiine! Let's make today into the best day it can be!" Monokuma announced.

Sakura and Hina both woke up and got ready to meet up with everyone in the cafeteria.

"Karasu is still asleep." Hina told Sakura, "Should we wake her up?"

"No, she was up very late last night. Let's let her rest, we'll leave a note to let her know where we are and come right back after the meeting is over." Sakura answered, "I think there might be some paper in the storage room we could use."

Sakura and Hina walked to the storage room together and found pen and paper. Sakura wrote the note to Karasu that explained where they were and they parted ways. Sakura went to clean up the blood and wash her shirt while Hina went to meet up with the others.

"Taka, we are letting Karasu sleep in today. She came to my room last night crying. Sakura washed the door and her shirt. Karasu was pounding on the door and reopened her wound on her hand. She was so upset that she didn't even notice the door had been opened." Hina explained to Chihiro and Taka.

"Very well, I will allow this absence just this once," Taka announced with unnecessary volume. That was when Sakura walked in.

"I have applied the stain remover to my shirt. The instructions said to let it sit for a while. The door has been cleaned as well." Sakura told Hina then greeted everyone else with a nod. Makoto was the fifth to arrive.

"Ah, hey Makoto!" Hina warmly greeted him.

"Hello, a very fine morning to you." Taka greeted slightly curty.

"Hi, guys," Makoto replied still sounding very much exhausted. After a short while Mondo, Hifumi, and Junko entered and took their seats at the table.

"Sorry I'm late, my stupid makeup took forever this morning," Junko said as she walked in.

"Excuse me for gawking." Sakura began.

"What's up?" Junko asked.

"Well you look so different, in person, that is. Forgive me." Sakura explained.

Junko laughed. "Yeah, they sorta gussy me up for the magazine shoots. Heh, that's the magic of touchin' up for ya!"

Sakura scoffed unimpressed. "You don't say."

"Aw come on! How different can I really look?" Junko whined, "You're gonna hurt my feelings!"

Kyoko, Leon, Celestia, Toko, and Yasuhiro arrived shortly after that exchange. Taka stood up to do a headcount. "This still isn't everyone, though."

"Hey, yeah, where are Byakuya and Sayaka?" Hina asked. Everyone looked around as if they expected them to be in their usual seats. "Well, okay, here's one of them," Hina reported.

Everyone turned to face Byakuya Togami, who had just entered the room. "Dude, Sayaka behind you or what? I'm starving." Mondo asked.

"Do I look like her keeper? I came here directly from my room, thank you very much." Byakuya replied curtly, "And on that note, may I inquire where Karasu is?"

"Yes, where is Karasu?" Celestia parroted

"She's in my room resting, she woke up in the middle of the night due to a nightmare," Hina explained.

"Isn't that suspicious?" Celestia commented calmly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Hina shouted.

"I can assure you that Karasu is alive and well, I carried her to the bed after she fainted." Sakura intervened.

"Little out of character for Sayaka to be late, she's usually here before I am," Hifumi commented.

"Uh oh, think maybe she's sick?" Hina asked. Makoto looked horrified.

"Whoa, is something wrong bro?" Yasuhiro asked Makoto in concern.

"Excuse me; I should probably go check on her!" Makoto said as he ran out of the cafeteria. Kyoko, Byakuya, and Celestia stood up and began to follow.

Makoto threw himself at the door with a thud and a shout of "Sayaka!" He turned the handle in desperation. To his surprise, it turned easily. "What the heck? It should be locked."

Makoto flung the door open and took only two steps inside before the sight before him registered. He screamed. Feathers had been stabbed into the floor and walls, the table was resting on its side, the bed was unmade and the decorative sword sheath lay innocently upon it, and the walls and floor had been slashed. He heard rapid footsteps behind him as Kyoko, Byakuya, Celestia, Mondo, Sakura, Hina, Junko, Leon, Chihiro, Yasuhiro, Hifumi, Taka, and Toko burst into the room. Everyone fell silent as they observed their surroundings.

"What… the… fuck?" Leon whispered, but somehow everyone could hear him.

"Please, tell me this isn't what I think it is," Makoto whispered.

"Oh God," Hina said as she covered her mouth in horror.

"Interesting," Byakuya stated.

"My, my, what have we here?" Celestia asked, "Surely not a sword."

Everyone in the room turned toward the shower door to see a sword impaled through the shower door and holding it open. Makoto walked over to peek inside and he stiffened.

"Dude, are you okay?" Yasuhiro asked. Makoto screamed. Everyone took a step back as Makoto screamed and screamed before he crumpled to the floor in a dead faint. Byakuya surged forward to take a look and blanched.

*Ding dong, ding dong*

"A body has been discovered! After three or more people discover a body, you will hear this announcement. Please meet me in the gym for a pep rally." Monokuma announced from the monitor.

"I believe you're mistaken. Only Makoto and I have seen the body." Byakuya stated.

"No mistaking it, three of you have found the body," Monokuma replied as he covered his mouth with his white paw while holding a glass of red wine in the other. The screen went dark.

~Elsewhere~

Karasu sat up in her bed and stretched. She opened her eyes and quickly realized that she was not in her dorm room. 'I must be in Hina's dorm room, but why?'

Then the last night's event rushed back to her, the color changing thread, magic, her dream, Leon, Her walk, and Sayaka's Room. 'Sayaka' she thought before she burst into tears. Sayaka seated against the shower wall with a knife stabbed into her stomach. She had lost control of her magic. 'What did my magic do anyway? It wasn't directed at anything. It just… responded to my emotions' Karasu paled 'What if I lose control of my magic again and it kills someone? Does Monokuma know about magic?' She stood up suddenly and glanced around nervously. 'I need to get control of my magic before-' the thought slipped away when she spotted a neatly folded slip of paper.

She picked it up and began to read. "Karasu, you seemed very distraught last night, so Hina and I are letting you get your rest. We will be in the Cafeteria if you need us. -Sakura" Karasu folded it up again and placed it into her bag while she walked to the door. 'Let's not keep them waiting anymore. Should I tell them about Sayaka? No way, Sayaka can't be dead. I had a nightmare last night, so maybe-'

*Ding dong, ding dong*

"A body has been discovered! After three or more people discover a body, you will hear this announcement. Please meet me in the gym for a pep rally."

Karasu jerked back as if she had been slapped in the face as she heard Monokuma say faintly in the background, "No mistaking it, three of you have found the body." She felt the tingling she had begun to associate with magic grow red-hot as she attempted to suppress her magic and regain control of her emotions. Some of the objects in the room were lifted off the ground for a moment. Once she felt like she was in control again, she left the dorm and walked to the Gym. Sakura was carrying an unconscious Makoto in her arms.

Everyone entered the gymnasium in silence. All Karasu could think about was Sayaka. 'It was real. Sayaka is really dead. I think I knew that deep down but didn't want to believe it.'

Karasu shook her head violently before she walked over to Makoto, who lay unconscious on the bleachers. 'I really hope he will wake up soon.' Karasu wished with all of her might. She reached out to brush his hair out of his eyes and at that moment, her magic surged. It had a purpose this time, to revive Makoto. His eyes shot open as Karasu withdrew her hand.

"Where am I?" He asked as if he had never fainted.

"The gym," Chihiro answered. She looked unnerved by his sudden alertness.

"Sorry, we carried you here after you fainted," Hina said sympathetically.

"Well, Sakura did the-" Chihiro began only to be interrupted by Makoto's shout of "How's Sayaka?!"

An uneasy silence fell as Karasu darted forward. Her arms wrapped around him as Byakuya announced; "I'm afraid she's deceased, homicide."

Makoto's shaky exhale was heard throughout the gym. Karasu tightened her arms around him as he tried to get up to run, most likely to Sayaka's side.

"Let go!" Makoto shouted. Karasu did not answer but hugged him tighter still as he fought to escape.

"She's been murdered! We can't just treat this like any other day!" He shouted as his eyes watered.

"Makoto, we need you to get a hold of yourself," Taka told him calmly when he put his hand on his Makoto's shoulder to comfort him.

"Let it out," Karasu whispered, but her voice echoed around the gym. One tear slid down his face, then another, and another. Before long, his eyes became waterfalls as he cried silently. "There ya go, feel better now?"

"No, but it feels less… intense." Makoto replied. Karasu nodded then released him. Makoto made eye contact with Karasu to ask a question. "Why-"

"Monokuma called us here for a 'pep rally'," Karasu answered promptly as if she knew what he was going to ask.

"Believe me, we are all against the idea," Taka cut in before Makoto could argue, "How on Earth can you be so disrespectful we said, but then-"

"Because they took my suggestion and complied; it is best if we just do as the bear says for now," Kyoko interjected.

"Kyoko," Makoto muttered.

"We are his prisoners, plain and simple. Nothing good can come of us defying him on impulse. Unless we want more casualties, we have to play by his rules." Kyoko stated the truth as it was.

"Although this is a very comfortable prison if you can get around the whole 'kill someone and you graduate thing'," Karasu muttered under her breath. Makoto, Hina, and Chihiro were the only ones who heard her.

"He killed her. She was vulnerable and he killed her. I knew it!" Makoto shouted.

"Beeeermp! As if little old me would do something like that. Scout's honor, it wasn't me!" Monokuma said as he announced his presence.

"You monster-!"

"Use your head mister jumps-to-conclusions! Why would I do something that goes against the whole point of this fine institution? You're supposed to do the killing not me! Rules are rules. You should have seen me at the zoo when folks ignored the do not feed the bears sign!

"But then who else- I mean cause-" Chihiro stammered.

"Like we don't know- Wake up and smell the formaldehyde! The killer is one of you!" Monokuma exclaimed. Everyone except a handful of students gasped in horror and glanced at each other nervously.

"Really, that's what pulled the rug out from under all of you? I thought you were supposed to be gifted students. It's obvious! One of you sent poor Sayaka to the sweet hereafter so you could breathe free air again! And that's okay; it's what you're supposed to do." Monokuma said mockingly from atop the podium.

"This is horrible!" Chihiro whined.

"He's lying!" Hina shrieked.

"Of course he's lying!" Makoto shouted

"Sorry Charlie, I'm telling the truth. It was definitely one of you, and right now someone standin' here knows that all too well."

"Your point being what exactly? If this is all you have to say then I will be leaving," Karasu turned her back to Monokuma, "I have a friend to mourn."

"Is he telling the truth?" Chihiro asked uncertainly.

"I demand to whoever did it to come forward immediately!" Taka- well- demanded.

Toko scoffed. "Sure, that'll work like a charm. Do you ever listen to yourself?"

"Look, whoever it is I won't judge," Celestia said as calm and collected as ever.

"Wah, it wasn't me, I swear!" Hifumi whined.

"Nah uh, I know you're not lookin' at me!" Leon shouted.

"Silence, all of you! Right then, let us assume perpetrator is, in fact, one of us. By your own rules, shouldn't they have graduated by now?" Byakuya asked.

"Upupup! Well, aren't- where are you going? The pep rally isn't over yet!" Monokuma yelled. Karasu halted in her progress towards the door and turned to face the bear.

"Well I was going to mourn Sayaka's death, but-" Karasu began before she was interrupted by the bear's shout of, "I was just about to explain the main event!"

Karasu's eyes narrowed, "Are you talking about the second part to Rule Number 6?"

"Right-o!" Monokuma affirmed before he began to elaborate, "Murder alone won't cut the mustard. The killer has to get away with it."

"In other words, to go free we must commit the perfect crime." Celestia summarized.

"After each homicide, you'll be given time to investigate before convening to debate the guilt or innocence of those who remain. We call these debates- wait for it- Class Trials!"

"You can't be Sirius about this (sorry couldn't help myself -siriusly- ha!)," Makoto said in disbelief.

"The trial format is loosely modeled on parliamentary procedure, fierce back-and-forth being the order of the day. If the guilty party is correctly identified, they will be summarily punished and the rest of you allowed to carry on under normal school conditions. But if choose incorrectly, however, and the culprit goes free while the rest of you are punished. So point the finger at your own peril. There you have it. High-stakes trial by jury. Beautiful system really."

"I wouldn't call it 'beautiful', but 'ingenious'," Karasu commented.

"Yes, quite." Byakuya agreed.

"Uh, sir, these punishments. What do they consist of?" Hifumi asked.

"Ah! I suppose another name for them would be executions." Monokuma responded.

"But surely you- you don't mean that!" Chihiro practically whined.

"Oh ho! I mean exactly that, sweetheart. We're talkin' electrocution. *cough cough* Gas chamber. Death by hurricane, which yes we can make happen." Horrified gasps were heard as well as uneasy muttering.

"Wait! I want to be sure I understand, decide incorrectly and the jury gets punished?!" Taka said in dawning realization of their life-threatening situation.

"Let no one say you aren't the smartest chimp in the tree. Oh, and way to imply you're not the culprit in this case by-the-by. Well done!" Monokuma praised Taka mockingly and Taka gritted his teeth, "You all get to play judge, jury, and executioner! Quite possibly on yourselves so, proceed with caution."

"W-Wait, hold on a second! You're freaking insane, you know that!?"

Junko shouted.

"Hmm?"

"A Class Trial? What the hell is that!? I don't want anything to do with it!"

"Why not?"

"Whaddya mean why not!? Why do I have to waste my time trying to figure out who murdered someone!?"

"What!? Are you saying you're not gonna participate in the trial!? Only punishment awaits such blasphemy!"

"What? Punishment!?"

"I might… I dunno; throw you in a deep, dark, scary prison or something!"

"Shut the hell up! Say whatever you want, I'm not gonna be part of this!"

"Don't be so selfish!"

"You're the one being selfish! Kill whoever you want; it's got nothing to do with me!"

"The evil standing here before me… I'm trembling with fear…! But I won't give in to such evil! It's my style to stick it out and resist until the very end…! If you really wanna get out of here… you'll have to go through me first!" Monokuma shouted and with a battle cry and a waddle, he charged Junko. Junko knocked him down and pinned him down with her foot on his face.

"Are you enjoying yourself now?" Junko said with an air of smug satisfaction.

"Are you?" Monokuma asked. Karasu didn't know when she started running toward Junko, but in that moment, Karasu could see Junko was in danger.

"Run!" Karasu shouted at her in desperation when she realized she may not make it in time. She was halfway across the gym now. She would be too late.

"Huh?" Junko asked confused.

"Violence against Principal Monokuma is not allowed. You've violated a school regulation… I invoke the mighty summon spell! Help, to me, godly Spear of Gungnir!" Monokuma chanted and then suddenly, spears shot out from panels on the floor.

Then Junko was dying. Right in front of her. Like Cedric.

She was suddenly lying down on the ground, next to Cedric. They groaned in pain as they staggered to their feet. She regained his balance sooner and held her stick up.

"Are you okay?" he asked, panting.

"Yeah, you?" she asked and as he staggered to his feet.

"Where are we?" he asked as he surveyed his surroundings.

As far as Karasu could tell, they were in a graveyard. Oddly enough, there was a cauldron in front of one grave. It was Tom Riddle's grave. Her eyes widened.

"The cup is a portkey," Cedric said.

"We need to get out of here. Now!" Karasu said in a quiet voice that carried throughout the graveyard.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

As fast as she could, she explained, "There is a cauldron over the and this is the resting place of Voldemort's father, Tom Riddle. Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram. It reads 'I am Lord Voldemort'."

He flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name, but before he could ask question further Karasu spotted a man appear from behind one of the many graves. She collapsed while she clutched her forehead. The cauldron suddenly was over a fire and bubbled ominously.

"What is it?" Cedric asked, concerned.

"GET BACK TO THE CUP!" Karasu shouted, but her voice sounded pained. Cedric looked over and saw the man with a hideous baby in his arms. He pointed his stick at the pair and assumed a defensive position.

"Who are you and what do you want!?" Cedric shouted.

"Kill the spare." The baby commanded softly. Cedric was too slow. The man had screamed 'Avada Kedavra' and with a flash of green light and a rushing sound, Cedric fell to the ground. Dead.

"No!" Karasu screamed. The man pointed the stick at her and she was lifted off the ground and imprisoned by the statue behind her. She was trapped. Her stick lay abandoned on the ground where she once sat.

"Do it, NOW!" the baby shrieked. The man walked over to the cauldron and dropped the infant in it. With a shout, the baby fell into the bubbling mixture and disappeared.

The man then pointed his wand at Tom Riddle's grave and from the earth before it a bone rose up into the air.

"Bone of the father, unwillingly given." the man chanted and dropped the bone into the cauldron. It bubbled even more. He put the within the folds of his clothes.

"Flesh of the servant willingly sacrificed." the man continued as he drew a silver dagger and held it to his wrist. His hand fell into the cauldron with a small splash. Steam billowed from the cauldron.

"And the blood of the enemy," he turned to Karasu. He was still holding the dagger in his left hand, "Forcefully taken." He had approached her cage and brought the knife to her forearm, and with a flick of the wrist, he cut her. He walked to the cauldron again and flicked a bit of her blood off the dagger and into the cauldron. "The Dark Lord shall rise again."

The man fled as the cauldron burst into flame. The cauldron melted and mixed with its contents. The fire dissipated and the mixture began to take shape. There was the infant again, but it was growing to the size of an adult male, a very ugly, naked adult male with a snake-like face. Lord Voldemort.

"Robe me," he commanded. The man who had run away earlier scurried back with robes folded in his arms, and then he dressed him. Voldemort ran his hands down its body as if he was admiring something it had lost but had just regained.

Karasu didn't see this however since her eyes were closed after it started to form into a male, a very naked male. At least she didn't see anything traumatizing.

"Are you decent?" she asked Voldemort. He did not answer.

"I'm opening my eyes now whether you like it or not!" Karasu shouted and opened her

"My wand, Wormtail" he demanded in a soft but dangerous voice. Wormtail presented the stick -wand- to it with a bow.

"Hold out your arm." he commanded.

"Master, thank you, Master-" Wormtail held out his injured arm.

"The other arm, Wormtail," he said. Wormtail looked like a frightened rat, but he held out his other arm. It pressed his wand to the tattoo on Wormtail's forearm. It turned jet black. Voldemort looked up and in the sky was a cloud shaped like a human skull with a snake for a tongue. The tongue split off and separated into smaller, human-sized figures draped in black cloaks and identities concealed by a skull mask.

"Welcome my friends. Thirteen years it's been, and yet here you stand before me as if it were only yesterday. I confess… disappointed. Not one of you tried to find me; Crabbe, Macnair, Goyle, and not even you Lucius." Voldemort addressed the newcomers. Lucius fell to his knees.

"My Lord, Had I detected any sign or whisper of your whereabouts-" Lucius began.

"There were signs my slippery friend and more than a whisper," Voldemort replied.

"But surely my Lord- I have never renounced the old ways, but this I have been obliged it since your… absence… that is my true mask." Lucius said.

"I returned," Wormtail announced proudly before he cowered as the Dark Lord approached him.

"Yes, out of fear. Not loyalty." Voldemort countered, "Still you have proved yourself useful these past few months Wormtail." And with a flick of his wand a silver replica of the hand he lost appeared.

"Thank you, Master, thank you-" Wormtail repeated breathlessly. Voldemort ignored him and focused on the corpse of Cedric.

"Oh! Tsk, tsk, tsk, such a handsome boy." Voldemort commented passively as he moved Cedric's head with his bare foot.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" Karasu screamed in fury, her face red with anger.

"Ah! -, I almost forgot you were here, standing on the bones of my father. I'd introduce you, but word has it that you're almost as famous as me these days." Voldemort said pleasantly- for him anyway. Karasu realized this was her chance to learn more about his Horcruxes and promptly stared him down. Her face was unreadable beside for the tint of hatred that shone for her eyes.

She saw a book, a ring- Gaunt house, a cup-Bellatrix's vault, diadem- room of requirement, a locket- on an island within a cave, and a snake he called Nagini. 'He doesn't know what I am' she thought, 'But he realizes his soul is too unstable to create more Horcruxes.'

Voldemort broke the connection when he turned to address the few of his Death Eaters that headed his call. "The-girl-who-lived, how lies have fed your legend -. Should I reveal what really happened that night thirteen years ago? Should I divulge how I truly lost my powers?"

Voldemort left Karasu and walked toward his servants. "It was love. You see when dear sweet - - gave her life to her only daughter, she provided the ultimate protection. I could not touch her. It was old magic, something I should have foreseen. But no matter, no matter, things have changed."

Suddenly he was right in front of her. "I can touch you now." He pressed his fingers to her forehead, and Karasu screamed in pain.

"Astonishing what a few drops of blood will do, ey -?" Voldemort asked with an air of excitement. Then suddenly Karasu was free.

"Pick up your wand -." He said. Karasu saw no reason to defy him and crawled toward her own wand. Voldemort was very impatient.

"I said pick it up. Get up! Get up!" He shouted as Karasu panted.

"You've been taught how to duel I presume, yes? First, we bow to each other." At this point, Karasu had staggered to her feet.

"Come now -, the niceties must be observed. Dumbledore wouldn't want you to forget your manners, would he? I said bow." With a wave of his wand, he forced Karasu into a bow. He released her.

"And now… CRUCIO!"

Karasu felt pain, extraordinary pain from every cell in her body. She collapsed and flailed on the cold earth as if she was having a seizure.

"Crucio!" More pain and a scream escaped her.

"Atta girl, -, your parents would be proud; especially that filthy mudblood mother of yours."

Karasu screamed in rage, but he was just playing with her. Like a particularly sadistic snake.

"I am going to kill you, - -. I'm going to destroy you. After tonight, no one will ever question me powers; after tonight, if they speak of only of how you begged for death, and I being a merciful Lord- obliged. Get up!" Karasu ran for cover, knowing he meant business now.

"Don't turn your back to me - -, I want you to look at me when I kill you. I WANT TO SEE THE LIFE LEAVE YOUR EYES!"

'I am not going down without a fight.' Karasu thought as she leaped over her cover and screamed, "EXPELLIARMUS!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The spells collided in between them with a brilliant flash. Next thing she knew, she was being overpowered. 'Oh no, ya don't!' she thought as she poured, even more, power into her spell.

"Do nothing, she is mine to finish!" Voldemort commanded only moments before her spell reached the tip of Voldemort's. What happened next was something neither of them was expecting. The narrow beam of light, once red and green jets of magic, turned gold. A bright, deep gold. They were both lifted from the ground, their wands still connected by that golden light.

Then the golden thread connecting their wands splinted; their wands were still connected. Thousands of golden thread weaved around them till they were both trapped in a dome-shaped web. Voldemort's wand shook violently a figure fell from the wand's tip. It stood up and she recognized him.

"Cedric…" Karasu said in wonder but was distracted by another figure falling out of the wand. An elderly man.

"He was a real wizard, then? Killed me that one did… You fight him, girl…" he encouraged. Karasu nodded. This time a woman appeared; she didn't recognize her so she assumed it was the missing Bertha Jorkins. Then two figures fell from the wand, one before the other. The woman regained her footing and rush towards her followed be the man.

"Mum. Dad," Karasu said with tears in her eyes.

"-! When the connection is broken you must get to the portkey! We can linger for a moment, but only a moment. Do you understand?" Her father asked her. Karasu nodded vigorously.

"-, take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my father." Cedric asked her. She nodded.

"Let go. Sweetheart, you're ready. Let go. Let go!" Her mother told her. Karasu broke the connection. All five of the echoes rushed Voldemort, distracting him while Karasu ran to Cedric body and grabbed his shirt.

"Accio!" She shouted and the cup and it flew towards her. She easily caught it in her wand hand and vanished from the graveyard. Karasu and Cedric appeared before a crowd of people; people who roared with applause. Karasu had enough.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" She shouted above all the cheers. Everyone's wand flew at her, but she made no attempt to catch them. Even the wand of an elderly man with silver hair and beard so long that it could be tucked into his belt flew through the air.

Then Karasu returned to reality. Junko's eyes shot wide open then rolled up towards the ceiling as she collapsed.

"Blood," Toko mumbled as she fainted. Everyone took a step or two backward; Yasuhiro and Hifumi ran away, but Karasu remained where she was. Suddenly she crawled forward. When did she fall to her knees? Karasu crawled into the splatter of blood and heaved Junko over so she was facing the ceiling.

"Oh no, oh no!" Chihiro muttered.

"This is seriously messed up," Leon commented.

"Honestly I wanted to avoid messy situations like that as much as humanly possible, but when an example is being to be made you can't let a bad attitude slide. Let's hope that the gravity-" Monokuma was cut off by a scream of pain, emotional pain.

Karasu Kanashimi sat there next to Junko's corpse as she screamed. Karasu knew that she needed to leave; she was losing control of her magic, but she couldn't bring herself to leave Junko. She never noticed that her magic lifted up the bleachers by a millimeter. Monokuma noticed however and was about to knock her out when Makoto ran up to Karasu and hugged her.

The bleachers were gently placed back on the ground with a faint crash. Everyone heard the crash and jumped up, startled. Makoto held onto Karasu tightly when he heard the crash.

"Not Cedric," Karasu whispered quietly. Only Makoto heard her, but he dismissed this as he was busy calming Karasu down.

"Let me go," Karasu commanded.

"No." Makoto replied and hugged tighter, "You need to calm down. We are all in this together."

Karasu bowed her head in acceptance before she spoke again. "She took my advice."

"Huh?"

"Her freckles are adorable aren't they?" Karasu asked before she fell silent. Tears flowed like waterfalls from her eyes.

Whelp, best of luck playing Junior Detectives! The trial will be getting underway soon, so put on those thinking caps and start a case-crankin'!" Monokuma said before he disappeared.

"Well at the very least we can rule Junko out as a suspect," Byakuya stated.

"I propose that we move forward with the investigation. Not to sound unduly harsh, but mourning lives lost will hamper chances of saving our own." Celestia added.

"Sorry, but that is harsh," Makoto commented.

"The girl was warned, not least of all by me. Those who cannot adapt are quickly swept away on the tide of their own obsolescence. In short, good riddance!"

"That is a horrible thing to say!" Hina and Karasu said in unison.

"Our personal feelings are neither here nor there. The situation we've been tasked with is to either unmask the culprit or die." Kyoko stated simply.

"Aw crap, we got sent some new pages," Yasuhiro informed.

"Jackass! Who gives a damn!?" Mondo demanded.

"The Monokuma Files, Huh?" Byakuya commented.

"Whoa, it gives a complete rundown of Sayaka's cause of death," Hifumi exclaimed.

"Ah, this could prove useful. Apparently, the room she was found in wasn't her own, but quite tellingly, it was Makoto's." Celestia added before her brows furrowed, "But when did she die I wonder…"

Everyone ignored the last bit. "I should have known, you greased the poor girl didn't ya!?" Mondo demanded harshly.

"What do you mean? I thought she was found in her own room." Karasu asked.

"It says so in the Monokuma File," Celestia repeated.

"Makoto what do they mean?" Karasu asked as she turned to face Makoto from her spot beside Junko.

"Sayaka came to me wanting to switch rooms for the night and I said okay. She was scared she needed my help!" Makoto explained.

"That makes sense." Karasu murmured to herself.

"Oh sure, we'll believe that line!" Mondo said mockingly.

"Stinks if you ask me," Leon commented.

"And why do you say that?" Karasu asked dangerously.

"It means he's the killer," Leon said simply. That was the wrong thing to say. Karasu practically leaped to her feet, shaking with barely suppressed rage.

"Oh sure, he did it. It's so- DID YOU HONESTLY THINK I'D BELIEVE THAT BS!" Karasu shouted before she turned her back to them. She closed Junko's eyes and grabbed her hands to place them on her chest. She froze for only a millisecond when she noticed Junko's right was covered in some sort of powder, but she dismissed it and turned to address her classmates.

"YOU ONLY HAVE ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION! ARE YOU WILLING TO BET YOU'RE LIVES ON IT? RHETORICAL QUESTION! DON'T ANSWER!" Karasu yelled and interrupted Leon before he could reply, then she stormed towards the gym door.

"Where are you going?" Chihiro asked frightened by her sudden change in demeanor.

"I'm going to get clean then investigate. Feel free to start without me; I will only be a few." Karasu answered calmly before she left them there gawking at her in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	4. The First Investigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

Karasu stood naked underneath the warm jet of water; she scrubbed furiously at the blood on her body. 'At least I don't have to worry about my dress' she thought as she remembered how her dress had magically rid itself of the bloodstain. Not that it was visible in the first place. Unfortunately for her, her makeshift bandaged was ruined; she would have to burn it later.

Once she decided all the blood had been scrubbed away, she dried off and dressed herself. "Let's take a look at this 'Monokuma File'" Karasu said aloud before she began to read.

'The victim was Sayaka Maizono. The body was discovered in Makoto's room, in the dormitory. All evidence suggests that the death took place in the bathroom. The cause of death was a stab wound to the abdomen. There was also an injury to her right wrist. Specifically, the wrist appears to have suffered a fracture.'

"So the murder occurred before 1:35 AM, during nighttime when the water was off. And… right, the outburst." Karasu trailed off as she clenched her fist in frustration. 'Wait… maybe…' She thought before she shouted "Monokuma!"

"You called?" Monokuma answered.

"There have been strange things happening around me. It's like…"

"Magic? Well, magic is real. I read a few books about it myself. It would have been great to punish rule breakers with the Cruciatus Curse." Karasu flinched when the Cruciatus Curse was mentioned, then looked at him hopefully.

"Could you give them to me? Maybe it could help me control it. I don't want to lose control again! I don't think I could forgive myself if I hurt them!" Karasu fell to her knees as she wailed.

"Hmm. No!" Monokuma said entirely too cheerfully, "I live for despair! And I can imagine the sweet despair you'd fall into if ya accidently hurt them or better yet kill them!"

Karasu scrambled back, her eyes were wide in horror. "It could kill them! That green light… that was magic?! I thought it was just a really horrifying dream!"

"Correct! By the way, participation is mandatory for the class trial!" Monokuma turned his back to Karasu, "Also, great job altering the crime scene! It will make things interesting for everyone."

Something was fighting to get out. It was burning her veins, but she would not let it out. She couldn't let it happen. She wouldn't allow it. Her eyes were squinted shut, fists were clenched, and she was shaking all over. She stumbled back clutching the sides of her head and shook her head with so much force, the world spun beneath her feet.

"It's a shame they couldn't beat it out of you," Monokuma said before he left Karasu alone at war with herself. She froze on her wobbly legs as her blood grew hotter with each passing moment. She couldn't control it anymore. It exploded outwards, grabbing anything small and light, effectively turning them into lethal projectiles.

"You bitch!" shouted a walrus of a man. He held her up by the neck of her oversized t-shirt and hurled her into a small room underneath the stairs. "How dare you make Dudley look like an idiot!"

"He is an idiot!" Karasu screamed. She knew she was only asking for more pain, but she didn't care. She wanted an explanation. "Why do always blame me for everything that happens?! Why am I the only one with chores?! Why-" Karasu was cut off by a knee to her stomach. Blood trickled down her chin as she coughed harshly.

Karasu turned her bright green eyes towards the man. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she mouthed, "Why?", as the man slammed the door. She heard the lock click. She dug out her journal that she stole from Dudley and began to spill her heart onto the pages. 'I just want to understand. I want to know why they treat me like this. I want to understand what goes on in their heads.'

Karasu found herself sitting on the floor. Objects were scattered across the room, but she was relieved to find that no damage had been done 'Maybe I could control it better if I practiced?' Karasu wondered before she swung her bag onto her shoulder; she grabbed her notebook and placed it in the bag with her things.

She was about to leave when she halted. 'Wait I had green eyes?' Karasu thought before she shook her head, 'That's not my priority right now. I need to focus on finding out who killed Sayaka.' She left her room and headed straight to Sayaka's- Makoto's dorm. Mondo, Sakura, Kyoko, and Makoto were already there.

Karasu headed straight to the shower. Sayaka still sat there with her back against the wall. Dead. Karasu bowed her head in respect before she took a step forward to investigate. Her gaze was almost immediately drawn to Sayaka's wrist. Gold. Her eyes always seemed to notice anything gold first, like the golden flakes on her swollen and bloody wrist.

'Could Sayaka have wielded the sword?' Karasu wondered, she checked Sayaka's palms. Nothing, but there was blood on her left index finger.

"What is-?" Karasu asked in barely a whisper. She had spotted the bloody symbols on the wall behind Sayaka on her left side. Sayaka had left a dying message. 11037. Steeling her nerves, Karasu jerked her eyes away from her final message and forced herself to look at Sayaka's stomach. At the knife. The knife that had taken her life. 'It looks like a kitchen knife,' Karasu mused as she rose to her feet.

There didn't seem to be anything else to find, so she left the bathroom. Instinctively she grasped the doorknob and tugged. It didn't budge. The sword still held the door firmly open. Most of the gold coating on the handle was gone Karasu noticed. She grasped the doorknob firmly in both hands and pulled with all her might. Her hands were small and she grabbed the goldless section of the handle, so she didn't get any on her hands. However, she lost her grip and fell onto her back with a painful sounding 'thud'.

"Karasu! Are you alright?" Sakura asked as lifted Karasu up off the ground. Her feet dangled a good three or four inches off the ground before Sakura put her down.

"I'm fine but, do you think you could pull out the sword?" Karasu responded

"I don't see why not," Sakura said as she walked over and grasped the handle. She braced her foot against the door and pulled. It barely moved an inch. It took three more tries to free it.

"Whoever did this is even stronger than I am." Sakura intoned solemnly. Karasu noticed that a minuscule amount of gold had attached itself to her hands.

"You might want to wash your hands, some of the gold rubbed off onto your hands," Karasu advised.

"I think I will," Sakura responded as she walked into Makoto's bathroom to clean off the gold.

"I wonder how they got the feathers into the walls like this," Kyoko held up a feather she had just pulled out of the floor and thrust it into the wall. The tip didn't even make a dent as it splintered.

"Hey, if the feathers and sword were thrust into the walls, could a dorm room key be impaled in the wall?" Karasu asked as she closed the bathroom door, "Since Makoto and Sayaka switched rooms, would it be safe to assume they also traded keys?"

"We did trade keys," Makoto confirmed.

"It is possible…" Kyoko trailed off with a calculating look on her face.

"It's broken!?" shouted Karasu as she caught sight of the crooked doorknob.

"No, it's not, the door frame is misaligned. It just gets stuck." Makoto denied as he conducted his own investigation. He was looking through his desk.

"Interesting," Kyoko muttered quietly but, loud enough for Karasu and Makoto to hear. 'Then how did I get it open in the first place? It can't lock.' Karasu wondered. Sakura left the restroom and returned to guarding the crime scene. Karasu walked to the door and shut it. The broken doorknob was much more noticeable like this.

"What's interesting?" Makoto asked before his eyes caught sight of the partially dismantled doorknob, "Huh? What happened?! The doorknob- it's coming off! What the heck? Why is that?"

"It's likely someone used a screwdriver and removed the screws…" Kyoko explained, "Either way, it's clear the screws were removed intentionally."

"Huh? They were removed intentionally? But why?!" Makoto exclaimed loudly.

"Probably because they thought it was locked. I thought it was locked at first…" Karasu began before she was interrupted by Sakura's shout.

"Is that what you were trying to say last night?! That Sayaka was dead?!"

"Yes, I found Sayaka's body last night." Karasu explained, "It's probably best you guys didn't understand what I was saying at the time. Byakuya is unpleasant enough as is."

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?! I can't hit a girl!" Mondo yelled furiously.

"YOU THINK I KILLED HER NOW! WOW, YOU GUYS SURE LOVE TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS, DON'T YA!" Karasu shouted at Mondo.

"But, why did you think that the door was locked in the first place?" Kyoko asked curiously, ignoring Mondo's and Karasu's outcry, effectively preventing an argument.

"Well only the girl's showers lock, right? At the time, I thought I was in Sayaka's room because of Sayaka's nameplate on the door." Karasu explained.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked confused only to never be answered. He would figure out what they meant later.

Kyoko made a contemplative face, and a few moments later her eyes lite up with realization and asked, "Interesting. Makoto did you tell anyone else about your misaligned shower door?"

"Uh, umm… Ah, I told Sayaka last night, when we exchanged rooms."

"So the only ones who knew were you and Sayaka…" Kyoko muttered, "Hmm, I see." The corners of Kyoko lips twitched upwards into a small smile. Her eyes clearly said 'Now we're getting somewhere.'

'She thinks Leon killed her?!'Karasu thought horrified, 'No way, I refuse to believe that. Innocent until proven guilty. Innocent until proven guilty.' Karasu ignored the fact that they had something in common and looked down, away from Kyoko's eyes, with a horrified expression on her face. Her eyes were shrouded in shadows.

"Innocent until proven guilty." She muttered absentmindedly.

"Karasu are you okay?" Makoto asked her with a concerned expression on her face.

Karasu ignored him. She lifted her gaze to meet Kyoko's again, tears flowed from her eyes like waterfalls as she glared at the purple-eyed girl. Kyoko regarded her with a curious yet concerned gaze.

"No, he is innocent," Karasu stated with no emotions in her voice. Kyoko tilted her head as she waited for her to continue, "He can't be guilty. I won't believe it. I can't believe it. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!" She shouted at Kyoko before she pushed past them, headed toward the exit.

Everyone at the crime scene froze in shock as the watched her throw the door open and darted through without bothering to close it. The stood there in silence as they heard a door slam shut in the distance.

"What the hell was that?!" Mondo asked in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. No one knew how to respond to that outburst.

After a minute or two of awkward silence Sakura and Mondo continued to guard the crime scene, Kyoko stayed behind to continue to investigate the crime scene, and Makoto left to investigate other locations.

"Is Master Kanashimi alright? She ran through her in tears." Hifumi asked the two as they stepped out into the hallway.

"I think she figured out who did it, and she doesn't like what she found," Makoto responded worriedly.

"Typical, commoners don't like what goes against their morals," Byakuya said quite rudely.

"Who does she think did it?" Leon asked curiously.

"I don't know, she didn't say." Makoto said as he shook her head, "I'm going to go talk to her."

"That would be unwise, give the girl time to recollect herself, she will need her wits about her when the trial begins." Byakuya stated coldly, as if he could care less about her frame of mind. Then he suddenly switched tactics, "Why is it that Sayaka Maizono died in your room? Is it because you killed her?"

"N-No, of course not Sayaka and I traded rooms last night…" Makoto said.

"..." Byakuya stared at him with suspicion etched clearly on his face, "On the off chance you're telling the truth, the responsibility for Sayaka Maizono's death still falls on your head, does it not?"

"Huh?"

"Sayaka Maizono was killed because she traded rooms with you. Did you not consider that?"

Makoto took a step back with a start. 'Sayaka was killed because we exchanged rooms? Because I traded rooms with her, she's dead? Sayaka was killed in place of me?'

"It's just a possibility, anyway…"

'E-Even so, If he's right, then I...' Makoto thought before he shook his head. 'Now's not the time. Didn't Mondo say we should check the trash room? I think I will head to the kitchen first, though, the murder weapon did come for the kitchen after all.'

Makoto made his way to the cafeteria, where Hina was standing alone. He made his way over to talk to her.

"Hina, are you investigating the cafeteria?" He asked.

"Nope, I'm taking a break. Actually, I've been on break for a while now. I don't really know what I should do… Nothing like this has ever happened to me before…" Hina responded.

"I hear ya…"

"Either way, being here kinda calms me down. Makes me wanna kick back, have a donut… Last night- the night Sayaka was killed- was the same way…"

Makoto nodded in understanding, the videos unnerved him as well, and then excused himself to investigate the kitchen. Once inside, eyes were immediately drawn to the knife rack, but the two largest knives were missing. He left the kitchen to ask Hina about it. Hina has been here before, she might know something.

He walked up to her and asked, "Hey, Hina, it looks like two of the cafeteria's knives are missing… Do you know anything about it?"

"Yeah, I thought that was weird, too. Just all of a sudden, the knife being gone…"

"So the knives weren't missing before?"

"Nope. Last I saw they were all there. Well, Karasu took one to cook dinner. She washed it and left it on the drying rack when she was done."

'I'll need to confirm that the second missing knife never left the kitchen' "When did you notice the knife had gone missing?"

"Last night, I came here to have some tea. When I went into the kitchen, they were all there. Just before I left, I noticed one of the knives were missing."

"So the knife disappeared while you were in the kitchen?"

"Ah, yeah…"

'She could prove that I never took the murder weapon!'

"Hey, by the way… Did you really kill Sayaka, Makoto?" Hina asked uncertainly.

"Wh- Why would you say that?! Of course, I didn't kill her!" Makoto shouted.

"..." Hina stared at Makoto in silence.

"Do you think I killed her, Hina?"

"I mean, Sayaka was killed in your room, right? But you and Sayaka were close, and it's hard to imagine you killing her despite that. Then again, you see it a lot on TV- murders happening because people are close, but then taking everything into account… I don't know what to think. Karasu thinks you're innocent, though." Hina answered.

"..." Makoto was silent before he said, "Karasu ran away crying from the crime scene, I think she figured out who did it but didn't like what she found."

"To be honest, I'm afraid of what I will find too. I don't want to believe anyone killed her." Hina replied, "I'm going to go talk to her, cause that's what friends are for right? Helping each other throughout difficult times!"

Hina smiled at the thought of her friend, then said, "See you later Makoto, good luck proving your innocence!"

'She trusts Karasu. That's something I thought wouldn't be able to exist here, given our situation.' Makoto smiled as he watched Hina leave before he turned towards the kitchen and entered once again. After a quick glance at the contents of the drying rack, he confirmed that the second missing knife never left the kitchen.

"That's right, I need to investigate the trash room too." Makoto said aloud before he rushed towards the trash room. There was a shutter blocking the incinerator on the farthest wall from the shutter and just before the shutter was a trapdoor leading to beneath the school. *Rattle Rattle Rattle* It was locked. Then Monokuma appeared when he went to take a closer look at the shutters.

"Arriving at the final station... These are the dumping grounds, also known as the trash room…" Monokuma said in his childish voice.

"These shutters, how do I-" Makoto began to ask.

"Nope! Nope! You shall not pass! Only the janitor shall pass!"

"Would someone please shut that damn bear up." said a tired, female voice from behind him. Makoto turned to see Karasu, her eyes puffy and red from crying, and Hina who walked in with her.

"Nope! Nope! You shall not pass! Only the janitor shall pass!" Monokuma parroted himself. Karasu stormed up to him, reached into her bag, and pulled out a key. She bent over and dangled it in front of Monokuma's face.

"I'm the janitor, now go away," Karasu said quietly. Monokuma, thankfully, shut up and disappeared. Karasu walked over to switch besides the shutter and activated it using the key. The shutter raised and the trash room was free to investigate.

Makoto, Hina, and Karasu walked toward the incinerator together. "The green button lights the fire and the yellow button extinguishes it. I swung by here yesterday and figured out that much. I turned the fire off before I left of course. No point in wasting precious oxygen." Karasu explained.

"So I'm guessing that the white shirt cuff with blood on it and glass shards was not there yesterday, right?" Hina asked.

"Right. I left the room how I found it." Karasu confirmed.

"The fire is on." Makoto pointed out.

"... So it is. Strange…" Karasu said. She had a dead look in her eyes and expressed little emotion, "I'll be right back. Guard the room while I'm gone."

Karasu walked out of the room but returned a few minutes later. She clutched a disc in her hands. Once she was close enough to the incinerator, she broke it in half and tossed it into the fire. She also tossed the remains of her ruined bandage.

"What was on your disc?" Hina asked curiously.

"A reminder that I know absolutely nothing about my past. I don't remember my family, friends, or anything. I even forgot my name, but it was easy to figure out with this", he held up her Orientation letter from her bag, before she tossed it into the fire too, "What was on yours? The disc, I mean." She asked.

"Oh, mine had my Mom, Dad, and Yuta, my little brother, on it. One moment they were congratulating me… the next… they were gone…" Hina said with an apologetic look on her face.

"Same thing basically, just with my Mom, Dad, and Komaru, my little sister," Makoto commented.

Karasu nodded. She stayed behind as Makoto and Hina left to continue their own investigations. Hina was reluctant to go, but after Karasu said she needed some time alone she left her to her thoughts.

"Don't worry, we will get through this together!" Hina said as she left.

She didn't say a single word after that.

'I saw Leon that night. Did he already destroy some evidence by then? There might be some evidence in his room…' Karasu wondered, ' I can't deny the possibility, as much as I don't want to believe it, there too much evidence pointing at him. I just want to know why.'

She left the trash room and headed straight towards Leon's room. As she had expected, he came running.

"Hey-" Leon shouted before she reached out and covered his mouth with her hand. She didn't meet his gaze. She brought her other hand up to shush him, removed her hand from his mouth, and dragged him into the trash room.

"Why did you bring me here?" Leon asked.

"Why Sayaka?" Karasu answered his question with a question of her own.

"What do you mean?" Leon asked nervously as he started to sweat nervously. He caught sight of the remnant of the bloody dress shirt and paled, "I didn't kill her."

"There is a little bit of gold underneath your nail on your index finger on your right hand." Karasu deadpanned. Leon jumped back startled and checked his hands.

"No there's…" Leon was about to deny it when he caught the smallest fleck of gold that had escaped his notice. He somehow turned even more pallid than before as he came to the realization that he had been caught. 'How did she notice such a tiny speck of gold?' He wondered in awe and horror.

"Why Sayaka?" Karasu repeated herself.

"I- I- I-," Leon stuttered through his lips, his body shook violently in fear.

*Diiiing doooong diiiing doooong*

"Ahem, I'm getting tired of waiting here… Let's get things started, shall we? It's the event you've all been waiting for...THE CLASS TRIAL! Without further ado, I'll now announce the rendezvous point! Please enter the red door on the first floor of the school zone. Upupu, seeee you soooon!" Monokuma exclaimed through the many monitors throughout the school.

Karasu knew he would never accept be able to move on if he survived and wouldn't be able to accept his death. There was nothing she could say or do to comfort him. Quite frankly, she didn't know what to do. Her friend had betrayed her. He was going to die. And she doesn't want him to die. 'Why does tragedy follow me everywhere I go? Why does everyone around me get hurt? Is it my fault?' Karasu wondered. She never noticed the lone tear make its way down her cheek.

~Later~

Thirteen classmates stood before the entrance to an elevator. Karasu noticed from where she was standing that Leon was a lot calmer now. 'No doubt he splashed his face with water, his eyebrows are still damp. I think he might have accepted his fate.'

Makoto was the last to arrive. Taka scolded him for being late. Toko accused him of delaying his 'inevitable' demise. Karasu sighed in disbelief.

"You shouldn't settle on a culprit just yet! Wait until the Class Trial! There, every detail of Makoto's crime will be made known from beginning to end!" Taka scolded Toko.

"I could say the same to you, Taka," Karasu said calmly.

"What do you mean?" Taka demanded.

"You just implied that you think Makoto is the culprit. I would wait and consider all of the evidence before pointing the finger, but that just me." Karasu said as she turned away from him as he spluttered to explain himself.

"Upupu, you're all here? In that case please board the elevator at the front of the room. That will take you guys to the courtroom. The courtroom that will determine your fates. Upupu… I'll be one step ahead of you, waiting for your arrival!" Monokuma exclaimed.

'He is the only one happy about this.' Karasu commented to herself before she stepped into the elevator without a word.

"Very well, let us proceed." Sakura intoned as she stepped towards the elevator.

"Yes, let's," Celestia responded as she followed Sakura.

Kyoko didn't follow them but turned to Makoto. "Are you afraid?"

"N-No, not so much afraid-" Makoto trailed off.

"I said this once already, but you must uncover the truth behind this incident yourself, Makoto. If you don't, you'll never accept what happened." Kyoko said before she turned to follow everyone else into the elevator.

"For Sayaka's sake, I'll find the culprit, no matter what!" Makoto shouted before he headed into to the elevator. The elevator door slid closed behind him and began to move. It made a loud clunking sound as it descended.

"This is what death row inmates must feel like, waiting for their execution" Makoto commented.

"Wouldn't it be apt to say you feel like 'a defendant awaiting judgment'?" Celestia asked.

Karasu tuned out of the voices around her and focused on the task set before them. Then the elevator skidded to a halt and revealed the beautifully decorated courtroom. It was a lot more welcoming than the last courtroom she visited.

"Are you coming?" Hina asked her from her spot at the stands.

"Yes, sorry. I just got lost in thought for a moment." Karasu replied as she took her spot between Taka and… a portrait? 'This must be my assigned spot, my name is written right here' Karasu thought.

"Yohoho! You're finally here! How 'bout it? Is this truly the courtroom as you imagined it?" Monokuma asked.

"No, I was thinking we would be stuck in a courtroom made from black stone and lit by touches while the defendant was chained to the chair," Karasu replied flippantly.

"Don't interrupt my monolog!" Monokuma yelled at Karasu before returning to his 'welcome' speech, "Ahem, We're talkin' Hollywood-level realism, here!"

"My ass… This place reeks of bad taste…" Mondo muttered under his breath.

"Right, right! You guys, please find the seat with your name on it. ¡Ándale, ándale!" Monokuma ignored Mondo and instructed everyone.

Everyone moved to their assigned seats and waited. Waited for the life or death trial to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	5. The First Trial: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

Once they were in their assigned seats, Monokuma wasted no time. "Let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out 'whodunit' then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one" He paused for effect, "then I'll punish everyone *besides* the blackened, and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate!"

"And the killer really is one of us, right?" Makoto asked the bear hesitantly.'I get where he is coming from, I don't want to believe it either' Karasu looked resigned as she stood there thinking, 'But Sayaka is dead. I can't deny that fact.'

"Of course!" Monokuma replied cheerfully. A little too cheerfully.

"Okay then, everyone close your eyes, and whoever did it, raise your hand!" Taka proposed.

"Don't be a goddamn idiot. Why the hell would they raise their hand?" Mondo demanded.

"Before we move on and start the trial, can I ask a question real quick? What's going on with… those pictures?" Kyoko asked Monokuma. Karasu turned to look at them, the pictures of Sayaka Maizono and Junko Enoshima. 'That bear even set them up so that they would be the same height as they were when they were alive!' Karasu thought, shocked and horrified.

"I'd feel awful if they got left out because they died. Friendship penetrates even death's barrier!" Monokuma explained.

"Friendship… penetrates?" Hifumi mumbled. 'I really want to punch him right now…' Karasu thought.

"Okay, but what about the other empty seat? There were only sixteen of us to begin with, so why are there seventeen seats?" Celestia wondered aloud.

"Oh, no reason. It's just that our little courtroom here can technically fit up to seventeen people. Okay, that about does it for the preamble. Get ready to get started! First up is the case summary. Now, let the class trial… begin!"

'Here we go…' Karasu thought as the debate kicked off, 'I won't stop until all my questions have been answered!'

"I assert that the one who was murdered was Miss Sayaka Maizono!" Taka shouted.

"...Yeah, we know that part already," Hiro deadpanned.

"And the murder took place in Makoto's room," Byakuya added.

"In the bathroom…" Hina elaborated.

"So it seems most likely that the killer must have taken her by surprise while she was in the bathroom. She didn't even have a chance to resist." Chihiro concluded.

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto shouted. Everyone turned to face him; they waited for an explanation for his assertion. "Just a second, Chihiro. Try to remember how my room looked. With the way things had been damaged, I think we can definitely assume there was a struggle."

"A struggle? Between who… and who?"

"Between Sayaka and the killer, of course."

"So you're saying… Sayaka wasn't caught by surprise in the bathroom…?"

"She must have been attacked in the main room first, then she ran to the bathroom to try and hide. The killer followed her in, and that's where they finished the job." Celestia summarized.

"That much should have been obvious after taking one look at the scene. It shouldn't even need explaining." Byakuya said haughtily.

"S-Sorry..." Chihiro apologized in a small voice.

"...Okay, so what's next?" Hiro asked.

"Next is the subject of the murder weapon." Sakura intoned.

"Wow...this is starting to sound like a real trial!" Hifumi observed. 'Great observation Hifumi! I totally wouldn't have noticed that without… I should stop being sarcastic and focus…' Karasu commented to herself.

"So what was used to kill her?" Sakura asked.

"There was some kind of sharp object thrust into her stomach. Without a doubt, that is the murder weapon!" Taka announced.

"So the killer used some random knife they had on 'em," Mondo asked looking visibly upset.

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto shouted. 'Is that his catchphrase now?' Karasu wondered.

"No. I do think it was a knife-but not just any knife. I'm almost positive it was a kitchen knife," Makoto explained.

"Huh? A kitchen knife…?" Mondo asked.

"After the murder, we discovered that one of the knives from the kitchen was missing," Makoto elaborated.

"Which means that knife must be the murder weapon." Sakura deduced.

"Ohh… yeah, I guess that makes sense. You could sorta see the weapon stickin' out of her stomach… and if you look real close, I could totally see that being a kitchen knife." Mondo agreed.

"Okay, so the murder weapon was a kitchen knife. But where does that get us? I mean we all know Makoto killed her, right!?" Leon accused Makoto.

"That's r-right… Makoto's room was the s-scene of the crime. What more proof do you n-need?" Toko agreed with Leon. Karasu could feel her anger rise, but know was not the best time to lash out. She had to keep herself under control.

"H-Hold on a second! I'm-!" Makoto stammered.

"Hold on. There were two knives missing, not just one." Byakuya interjected, "So which knife is the murder weapon?"

"I used a knife last night…" Karasu began.

"Ah-ha! So you're the killer, Miss Kanashimi!" Hifumi accused as he pointed at her.

"No, she isn't! I was there when she used it. I watch her wash it and place it on the drying rack!" Hina refuted.

"She c-could have taken the knife w-while you weren't looking!" Toko pointed out.

"No, she couldn't have. We left the kitchen together!" Hina defended.

"T-there is no way you can prove that the knife never left the k-kitchen!" Toko shouted.

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto objected, "When I was searching the kitchen, I found one of the knives on the drying rack, and I found while Sakura and Mondo were guarding the crime scene. Sakura, Mondo did anyone remove the knife at the crime scene?"

"No, the murder weapon never left the crime scene," Sakura answered. Mondo grunted in agreement as he nodded his head.

"O-Okay, then Makoto took the m-murder weapon from the kitchen!" Toko accused.

"I told you, I'm…" Makoto began.

"Let's draw our conclusions *after* we've presented our arguments. Otherwise, what's the point of the trial?" Kyoko asked.

"Well we can talk all we want, it's not gonna change *that conclusion," Leon said.

"I don't think that's true at all. I'm sure if we keep at it, something new will reveal itself." Kyoko explained calmly.

"You really believe that…?" Hiro asked Kyoko. She did not reply.

"So I guess there's no question which kitchen knife was the murder weapon. But where does that get us?" Leon asked.

"M-Makoto took it f-from the k-kitchen, right? He must have done it in s-secret, when nobody was in the c-cafeteria…" Toko elaborated.

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto shouted, "Okay, wait, hold on. I didn't take the knife from the kitchen."

"Next you're g-gonna say you're not the k-killer, right? Go ahead and say it all y-you want…!" Toko replied smugly.

"Well, what if I have a witness?" Makoto asked.

"Three." Karasu corrected.

"Huh?" Makoto asked.

"Hina, Sakura, and I spent last night drinking tea in the kitchen. I made fish and chips then washed the dishes after I finished eating and drinking my tea." Karasu explained.

"Okay, Hina, remember what you were telling me earlier?" Makoto asked.

"Uh… yeah… I said 'Last night, I came here to have some tea. When I went into the kitchen, they were all there. Just before I left, I noticed one of the knives were missing.'" Hina recalled.

"Just to be perfectly clear, the knife disappeared while you were in the cafeteria, correct?" Makoto asked Hina to clarify his point.

"Y-Yeah, that's right…" Hina confirmed.

"And at any point while you were there, did you ever see me come into the cafeteria?" Makoto asked.

"Umm… no, I don't think so…" Hina replied.

"You don't 'think' so?" Byakuya pressed.

"...No, he definitely wasn't there!" Hina repeated with more confidence.

"The knife disappeared while Hina, Sakura, and Karasu were in the dining hall, But I wasn't there the entire time. In other words, there's no way I could have taken the knife!" Makoto summarized.

"Okay, th-then what about this…? What if the i-idiot swimmer girl, Sakura, unruly hair, and M-Makoto are all in on it together, a-and are lying to protect each other?" Toko proposed.

"Idiot swimmer girl!?" "My hair isn't that messy!?" Hina and Karasu exclaimed in unison.

"Oh, and more importantly, why would we get involved in something like that!?" Hina and Karasu shouted as one.

"Speaking of which, I'd like to ask the bear… if there *is* an accomplice, do they also become 'blackened'? Byakuya asked.

"So you ask, and so I shall answer! Each murder is allowed to have an accomplice, but only the one who does the killing will get to graduate." Monokuma replied.

"So in other words, two people can work together, but one of them has no chance of profiting from it…" Kyoko summarized. Karasu's eyebrow furrowed in confusion. 'But what if two people worked together and each killed one person?' Karasu wondered and opened her mouth to ask the bear about it when Mondo said: "Then there's no way anyone would work together, right…?"

"But… what if they *did* work together, and they just didn't know about the rule?" Chihiro asked.

"Uggh, good grief! Enough already! No, okay!? There are no accomplices in this case!... Oops! Did I say that out loud…?" Monokuma exclaimed.

"But what if…" Karasu began.

"There are no accomplices in this case!" Monokuma shouted.

"But…" Karasu tried again, her voice weaker.

"There are no accomplices in this case!" Monokuma shouted yet again.

"But…" Karasu tried again, her voice stronger this time, only for Kyoko to interrupt.

"The bear has answered our question. There s nothing to gain from interrogating him further. We need to focus on uncovering the culprit." Kyoko interrupted.

"Anyway, I didn't go to the cafeteria, and I didn't take the knife." Makoto continued as Karasu glared at him in annoyance and didn't interrupt again, "So I'm not the killer!"

"Okay, so then… who *did* take the knife?" Chihiro asked.

"Hina seems the obvious candidate. After all, she just said she was in the cafeteria…" Celestia proposed.

"N-No way! I swear it wasn't me!" Hina shouted in panic.

"Sure, but you or anyone else prove that?" Hifumi asked. Karasu's eye twitched in annoyance at the question.

"I can," Sakura replied.

"That's right! Sakura was with me the entire time I was drinking my tea… Karasu too." Hina said confidently.

"Uhh… I hate to have to ask, but just to be sure, Sakura's…" Leon asked.

"Me," Sakura answered.

"...Right." Leon said as he sweat nervously. 'Leon seems a bit more confident now. He must have realized that I wasn't going to call him out in the beginning. And the only reason I'm doing that is because I agree with Kyoko. Makoto needs to figure it out on his own or he won't accept it.' Karasu thought to herself.

"But then… couldn't either one of them have grabbed the knife?" Hiro asked.

"Actually, no. Because...um...well…" Hina hesitated.

"Just spit it out already!" Mondo growled in frustration.

"I stayed in Hina's room last night," Sakura answered.

"I got so scared thanks to those creepy videos. I wasn't really thinking. I just asked them to stay over. Karasu said she would be fine on her own though." Hina explained, "Which means we have airtight alibis!"

"You s-stayed over…? Doesn't that violate one of the school r-regulations?" Toko asked.

"We're not allowed to sleep anywhere but the dorms, but it doesn't say we have to stay in our assigned room… So… I don't think that's a problem."

"It IS a problem! A boy and a girl spending the night together!? It's… it's… unwholesome!" Taka fussed.

"But… I'm a girl." Sakura said.

"Wh-!? You are!? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Taka apologized.

"But if it wasn't either of you, then what other possibility is there?" Celestia asked.

"Karasu could've doubled back and taken the second knife. After all, Karasu didn't spend the night at Hina's." Byakuya explained.

"But I didn't take the knife," Karasu replied.

"Can you prove it?" Byakuya pressed further.

"Yes and no," Karasu answered.

"And what does that mean?" Byakuya asked with a scowl on his face.

"Yes, I can prove I didn't take the knife and no, I can't prove I didn't leave my room later on," Karasu explained. 'Because I *did* leave my room later' she thought idly.

"Actually, there *is* one other possibility. Right, Hina?" Sakura intervened before Byakuya could ask what Karasu meant by that.

"Oh yeah, that's true! One other person did come to the cafeteria while we were there." Hina agreed.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place…?" Byakuya asked, annoyed.

"Well, because… they're not here anymore. Sayaka. She's the one who came into the dining hall. And then later… she wound up dead..." Hina explained.

"Then… Sayaka is the one who took the knife…?" Makoto asked.

"That's the only possibility." Sakura agreed with Makoto, "And thinking back on it, she was acting kind of unusual… When she came into the kitchen, she said she was just going to get a glass of water and when she left the knife was gone."

"I thought she took it for self-defense," Karasu added.

"Then the person who took the knife was the victim herself!" Taka exclaimed.

"If that's the case, then the very thing she took for self-defense was taken from her, and she was killed with it? In that case, you may not have taken the knife, but you still could have killed her." Byakuya reasoned.

"What!?" Makoto said, startled.

"S-See!? He did do it, a-after all!" Toko exclaimed.

"No, you're wrong!" Makoto began when the room's temperature suddenly dropped below freezing.

"So that's how you would twist the argument and send us all off in the wrong direction…!? Hm-hmm… You possess a most t-terrifying t-talent…" Hifumi commented as he shivered.

"Oh, and what makes you say that? Is it the location of the crime? Or is it just bias? Tell me, I want to know." Karasu said in an eerily calm voice, "You know what, I think I'm done helping you figure out who did it."

"But th-then you could die!" Toko shivered.

"Oh, are you under the impression that I fear death?" Karasu asked in a deadly calm voice, "Why should I be? I will die someday. I have to die. Besides, there are things worse than death."

Everyone stood there in an awkward silence. No one knew what to make of Karasu's outburst. Then Kyoko broke the silence, and just like that the room was a comfortable temperature again.

"Hold on. Like Karasu said, it's still too early to decide conclusively that Makoto is the killer, wouldn't you say? Because, you see, if he room did belong to the killer, then they did something most bewildering. And until we unravel that little mystery, you simply can't declare that he's the killer." Kyoko explained.

"Bewildering? What the hell are you talking about!?" Mondo demanded.

"Something was missing from the scene of the crime that by all rights should have been there. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" Kyoko elaborated before she stared straight at Makoto. Makoto closed his eyes for a moment or two in concentration before his eyes shot open.

"That's right! There wasn't a single hair on the floor!" Makoto said excitedly.

"So.. the culprit removed some evidence?" Chihiro asked.

"Yes. And if I were the culprit… Why would I need to get rid of all the hair in my own room? It wouldn't be unusual at all to find my hair at the crime scene, if the crime scene is in my room." Makoto explained.

"The reason all the hair was gone… was to remove any trace that Sayaka had ever been there. That makes sense, does it not?" Celestia asked.

"No. If that were the case, they would have had to do something about the body itself, not just her hair." Kyoko answered.

"Ah-ha-ha! Yes, very true, very true!" Hifumi agreed.

"Okay, then why wasn't there any hair on the ground?" Leon asked.

"The killer got rid of it all, of course. To remove any trace that *they* had ever been there." Kyoko explained.

"Wait, then that means…!" Mondo muttered in realization.

"Precisely. It's simply beyond reason to believe that the room's owner and the killer are one and the same." Kyoko confirmed.

"Then… Makoto isn't the culprit?" Chihiro asked.

"But are you sure we can decide something so important based solely on the absence of some hair!?" Taka asked.

"No. There are other reasons that prove why Makoto couldn't have done it." Kyoko explained.

"I would like to hear these reasons…" Sakura said.

"Do you remember anything remarkable about the bathroom at the scene? Sayaka was attacked in the main room first, then fled into the bathroom, right?" Kyoko recalled.

"Yeah, then they ran after her, got into the bathroom, and stabbed her…" Mondo snarled.

"And how did the killer get into the bathroom? Did they have any trouble with it?" Kyoko asked.

"What do you mean…?" Celestia asked.

"It's fairly certain that the killer had some trouble getting into the bathroom… There was clear evidence left behind. Do you remember, Makoto?" Kyoko asked.

"Evidence that the killer had trouble getting into the bathroom… You're talking about the doorknob, right?" Makoto answered.

"Huh? The doorknob? What doorknob?" Hiro asked.

"The doorknob for my bathroom… it was completely broken. See how the top part was unscrewed, and how the doorknob is about ready to fall off?" Makoto explained.

"Oh yeah, true… But what does it mean?" Chihiro asked.

"In trying to bypass the lock, they ended up nearly removing the entire doorknob. This is another most bewildering act for the room's owner. It proves Makoto is beyond suspicion." Kyoko explained.

"So what, you're saying he wouldn't break the door in his own room? But if the only choice you have is to break it, you break it! There's nothing 'bewildering' about it!" Leon reasoned.

"You still don't see? Okay, then… Let's take another look at how the incident unfolded. Hopefully, that will help you understand…" Kyoko commented before she began telling, "The incident took place in Makoto's room. Sayaka was first attacked in the main room. She then fled into the bathroom."

"Then the killer ran after her… And they got into the bathroom." Mondo said.

"At that point, the killer had to try and bust down the door… Because Sayaka had locked it." Leon added.

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto shouted, "The reason my bathroom didn't open wasn't because it was locked. After all, the girls' rooms are the only ones with locking bathrooms, right?"

"Yes… Now that you mention it, that is true." Sakura agreed.

"Then… why didn't your bathroom door open…?" Chihiro asked.

"Because it was stuck," Makoto replied.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Leon demanded.

"My bathroom door doesn't fit in the frame quite right. Monokuma over there can testify to that." Makoto stated.

"Yup! True as true can be! But ya know… you're supposed to be the Ultimate Lucky Student, right? But to have such a cruddy… Puhuhu…! That's not lucky at all!" Monokuma rambled.

"So the reason the door didn't open was just because it was stuck… But the killer didn't know that and assumed it was locked. So they tore apart the doorknob to get in." Kyoko explained.

"Okay, but then why would the killer even think the door was locked in the first place? Everyone should have known you can't lock any of the boys' bathrooms." Celestia asked.

"The killer could easily make that mistake, thanks to one important detail about the scene of the crime…" Kyoko explained.

"The killer must not have realized that it was my room." Makoto elaborated.

"What!? Are you saying the culprit didn't even know where he was? That's… inconceivable!" Hifumi commented.

"And yet, he's absolutely right." Kyoko agreed with Makoto.

"SAYWHAA!?" Hifumi shouted in alarm.

"Well, to be more specific… What the killer didn't know was that Makoto and Sayaka had switched rooms. Which is what led to the misunderstanding about the bathroom. If Sayaka had been in her own room, then…" Kyoko trailed off.

"Then there would have been a lock on the door, and they would've had to break through…!" Taka exclaimed in realization.

"So they had no idea how unnecessary their actions were…" Sakura murmured.

"Ultimately, we can't know if it came open by force or simply by accident, but… The killer must have been considerably confused, with no idea how they actually got the door opened." Kyoko explained.

"Regardless, it was a pointless act. Wasting time trying to break down a door that wasn't locked is…" Byakuya trailed off.

"...Definitely, something I wouldn't do, since I would've known exactly why it wasn't opening. Right?" Makoto pressed.

"That is… a definite possibility." Byakuya sighed.

"So the killer would have to be someone who didn't know they'd switched rooms…?" Chihiro asked.

"Then Makoto *c-couldn't* have done it…!" Toko realized.

"Okay, then who *did* do it!?" Mondo shouted.

"I'm sorry, but I give up! Quit without saving!" Hifumi shouted. 'If you guys would just use your heads you would realize that the killer is a male and not Makoto or Hifumi.' Karasu thought to herself as she rolled her eyes but still didn't say a word. Kyoko noticed her behavior, but she knew that trying to get information out of her would be pointless.

"But… what happens if we can't decide on who we think did it…?" Chihiro asked, nearly in tears.

"Well then, why don't we just vote right now? Majority rules!" Taka proposed. Karasu straightened abruptly, her eyes widened.

"Majority rules? Do you really think that's a good idea…?" Leon asked.

"Yeah! Our necks are on the line here! Someone seriously needs to do something. For serious…!" Hiro replied.

"You are an idiot." Karasu deadpanned.

"Does no one have any other thoughts or questions? It does not matter how trivial they may seem…" Celestia asked everyone in the room.

"Oh! As a matter of fact, I do have one question! Two actually!" Hina replied.

"Oh… you…" Celestia trailed off with a look of disappointment on her face.

"You don't gotta sound so disappointed!" Hina shouted.

"It's fine, it's fine, just ask your questions!" Taka shouted out loudly.

"Oh yeah! Okay, so, umm… Well, I was just wondering, how'd the culprit get into Makoto's room in the first place and when did the Sayaka die?"

"Hmm… Yes, how *did* the killer get inside? And Sayaka was dead by 1:37 PM." Sakura intoned.

"What makes you say that?" Byakuya demanded rudely.

"Karasu found the body and then woke us up at 1:37 PM. I didn't know she actually found Sayaka last night until this morning." Sakura replied.

"Wait! That's what Karasu was trying to say last night!? She found Sayaka!?" Hina shouted in a panic, "No wonder she looked so distraught."

"I would like to know what exactly she was doing out of bed. After all, didn't we all agree to stay in our rooms during nighttime?" Celestia pointed out.

"I had a nightmare, and to calm down I first wrote down my nightmare in my journal before I went for a walk to settle my nerves," Karasu explained.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you to answer." Celestia murmured.

"Of course I answered. I might not care if I die, but I don't want my friends to die because of me." Karasu replied. "Never again." She whispered. No heard that last bit besides Monokuma and Taka.

"What do you…" Taka began to ask before Hiro interrupted.

"What was your nightmare about?" Hiro asked, "I bet it was something about July!"

"T-There's no way it was s-something s-stupid like that… Karasu?" Toko started before she noticed that Karasu skin had turned pallid and that she shook like a leaf in the wind, just about ready to fall from the tree.

"I-I'm f-fine," Karasu replied shakily. No one was convinced. Karasu took a deep breath before she asked, "I'm assuming you'll want to hear my account, right?"

She didn't wait for anyone's reply before she recounted her tale, "I woke up at 1:30 AM after having a nightmare. I tried to calm down by writing it down in my journal. That didn't work and I decided a change of scenery would help. I opened my door at the same time one other person closed theirs. I…"

"Who did you see?" Byakuya interrupted.

"Not telling," Karasu said childishly as she crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks.

"I see… Why the hell not!?" Byakuya shouted angrily.

"Because then you'll just jump to conclusions again. That's why. NOW SHUT UP AND LET ME FINISH!" Karasu retorted before she continued her explanation like she was never interrupted, "I thought nothing of it at the time, thinking they also had a nightmare. After walking for some time, I got the sense something was wrong. It got stronger the closer I got to Sayaka's -no, Makoto's- room. I knocked. Sayaka didn't answer and a tried to open it. It should have been locked, but I opened it easily. The sword sheath, a key, and the sword were lying on the ground and there were slashes all over the walls and floors. I didn't see Sayaka anywhere so I went to check the bathroom. I had trouble with the door despite it being dismantled to disable the 'lock'. I somehow got it open and I saw her… I screamed and ran from the room. I went to Sakura's door first before I remembered she was staying with Hina. I pounded on the door and… I think you know what happened from there."

"If the sword and key were on the ground then, how did they end up impaled into the doors? And what about the feathers?" Hina asked.

"That's not important right now!" Monokuma yelled, "Time's a wastin'!"

'Does he want to keep my magic a secret?' Karasu wondered before she decided to give the bear a hard time. "They floated," she deadpanned.

"They-what?" Byakuya demanded.

"They floated." Karasu deadpanned yet again.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?" Byakuya asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Moving on. Let's assume that the murder occurred before 1:37 AM and after..." Kyoko trailed off.

"Maizono and I swapped rooms at 10:00 PM," Makoto said.

"Between 10:00 last night and 1:37 this morning. In other words, nighttime," Kyoko summarized.

"Yeah, sure, but how did the killer get into Makoto's room? Hina repeated.

"Maybe Sayaka just dropped the key somewhere and the culprit picked it up. That's possible, right?" Leon added.

"I don't think so. That seems way too convenient." Taka stated.

"Then...maybe someone picked the lock?" Chihiro proposed.

"Negative! If you remember, Monokuma made it quite clear that the locks are all unpickable." Taka denied.

"Fine, how about this? The killer got in the easy way. They could've knocked and said they wanted to talk or something, and Miss Maizono just… let 'em in!" Hifumi proposed.

"No, that can't be it, either." Makoto disagreed.

"O-ho! Trying to argue against me? Sounds like someone doesn't know his place! Hello!? Why, exactly, can't that be it!?" Hifumi demanded.

"Because Sayaka was already scared, remember? That's why she asked me to switch rooms in the first place," Makoto paused as if he was remembering something, "Knowing what she'd been through, I just can't believe she would have opened the door for anyone."

"...What if her being scared was a lie?" Kyoko asked seriously. 'Wait, what!?' Karasu thought to herself, her eyes wide. She stared directly at Kyoko in horror.

"Huh…?" Makoto made a confused sound, "Wh-What the hell is that supposed to mean!? Why would she lie about something like that!?"

"I know you don't want to consider it, but look at this and tell me… can you still deny the possibility?" Kyoko asked. She pulled out a sheet of paper, shaded so it would reveal the message.

"I found a notepad during my search, and I shaded in the top sheet with a pencil. And these are the words that appeared." Kyoko explained.

"Oh man, I've totally seen people do that on detective shows! When you write, it can leave an imprint. Sketch over the next sheet of paper, and you can see the words! When I saw that, I was like 'Holy crap! I better make sure I rip the paper out before I use it from now on!'" Hina exclaimed.

"It's a pretty old-fashioned technique, but even the classics can be surprisingly useful sometimes. Oh, and I should also mention… I found the notepad on the desk in Makoto's room." Kyoko commented.

"Huh?" Makoto gasped.

"Which means, only someone who had been in Makoto's room before the incident could have written it." Kyoko reasoned.

"Then either it was Makoto, who lived there, or Sayaka, who switched rooms for a single night…" Byakuya elaborated.

"So, Makoto… did you write this?" Kyoko asked.

"N-No, I didn't. But-" Makoto said only to be interrupted by Kyoko's, "Of course you didn't. Because the note also bears a perfectly legible signature- Sayaka's signature."

"B-But why? Why would she write that?" Makoto asked.

"The note was likely her way of getting in touch with a certain someone. She must have slid it under their door to let them know she wanted to meet with them in secret." Kyoko explained.

"If you got an invitation like that from the Ultimate Pop Sensation, what young man could resist? Of course, I'm only into 2D so it wouldn't have any effect on me!" Hifumi declared.

"...But can we be sure anyone even got this note? And honestly, even if they did, I do not think they are at all involved in what happened." Celestia expressed her opinion.

"Huh? What makes you say that?" Chihiro asked.

"Hmhm… Would you like to hear what I have to say? Very well, then. Pay attention!" Celestia commanded, "Sayaka and Makoto switched rooms, correct? But in the note, the place they were asked to come to… It specifically says 'my' room."

"I see… So if someone read that note… then they would have gone to Sayaka's room!" Chihiro exclaimed.

"Exactly. The room that Makoto was staying in." Celestia clarified.

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto shouted, "The nameplates on my and Sayaka's rooms were switched."

"They were… switched?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah, they did. I thought I was in Sayaka's room when I found her." Karasu explained.

"That's right. The nameplates got switched, just like the rooms themselves. As a result, the nameplate on Sayaka's room actually had Makoto's name. And the nameplate on Makoto's room had Sayaka's." Kyoko explained.

"So what you're saying is, the room Sayaka was staying in, was actually marked as her room." Byakuya summarized.

"Then… if someone *did* do what the note said, they would end up at Makoto's room, where Sayaka was…" Chihiro realized.

"Plus, their rooms are right next to each other. So switching the nameplates would be no problem. And the one who switched the names was, well, of course, it wasn't you, tight Makoto?" Kyoko asked.

"R-Right," Makoto confirmed.

"Okay, then who did it?" Leon asked.

"Sayaka and I were the only ones who ever knew about us switching rooms. So the only other person besides me who would even know to switch the nameplates… was Sayaka." Makoto realized.

"You can also infer as much from her note. She specifically tells the reader to check the nameplate. She would only have written that if she knew the nameplates had been switched." Kyoko reasoned.

"But why would she switch them in the first place?" Chihiro asked.

"She wanted someone to come to the room she was in, and *also* hide the fact that it was Makoto's room," Kyoko explained.

"What?" Makoto asked in disbelief.

"Inviting someone to 'your' room, but not telling them you'd switched rooms. Why would anyone do that?" Hina asked.

"To understand that we first need to understand what happened after she invited the person into the room. That's where the answer lies." Kyoko said.

"What happened then was… probably… Whoever she invited over… came in, and… attacked her! We figured it out! We know who did it! Whoever she invited over is the culprit!" Taka exclaimed excitedly.

"But we still don't know who it is, ya goddamn idiot…" Mondo muttered aloud.

"Sayaka fought with her killer there in the room, yes? Perhaps the answer to our previous question lies in that initial struggle." Celestia thought aloud.

"Yes, I think you're right." Kyoko agreed.

"Then… we just have to figure out what happened during the fight, right!?" Hina realized.

"That reminds me… There was a replica sword at the murder scene. Was that perhaps used during the fight?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yeah, what's the deal with that sword?" Mondo demanded.

"Sayaka suggested I should hold on to it. I thought it might come in handy if I had to defend myself. It seems pretty likely that the killer used it to break Sayaka's right wrist." Makoto reasoned.

"How the hell could you possibly know that's what broke her wrist!?" Leon confronted.

"All you have to do is take a good look at her broken wrist, and it should become pretty clear. Right there where her wrist is all swollen, there's something glittery there, see? Makoto pointed out.

"Is… is that gold?" Chihiro asked curiously.

"It sure is," Makoto confirmed, "Specifically, the gold coating from the replica sword. You barely have to touch that stuff and it'll stick right to you. And there's some on her wrist because…"

"I got it! Because she got hit with the sword, right there on her wrist!" Taka exclaimed aloud.

"I see, I see… And so the truth draws ever closer…" Hifumi commented ominously.

"Alright! Then it's about time to solve this mystery!" Hiro shouted enthusiastically, "When the fighting broke out, the culprit grabbed the sword… and that's when the first blow was dealt! A sword-based sneak attack!"

"No, I think the sword was grabbed as a defensive impulse." Karasu objected shakily before Makoto even opened his mouth.

"Huh?" Hiro grunted in confusion.

"I think Karasu's onto something. If the attack started with the sword, then there would be no explanation for the scratches on the sheath." Kyoko explained.

"Those scratches... looks like someone cut into it with something sharp," Makoto commented.

"Something sharp… You mean, like the kitchen knife? That was the only sharp thing found at the scene…" Chihiro asked shyly.

"Stop jumpin' ahead! Slow down and explain it so I get what the hell's goin' on!" Mondo demanded in frustration.

"If the sword was used first, there wouldn't be any explanation for the scratch on the sheath. If you were going to attack with the sword, you'd take it out of the sheath first, right?" Makoto explained.

"That's true. With the sheath on, it'd be heavy and bulky and useless as shit." Mondo agreed.

"So what you are saying is that the one with the knife attacked first, correct?" Celestia summarized.

"I get it now! So here's how it all played out… the culprit came in, found the kitchen knife hidden there somewhere… Then they took the knife and attacked Sayaka before she knew what was happening! So she grabbed the sword to-" Taka thought aloud before he was interrupted by Karasu. Anyone could look at her and tell that she was losing her patience.

"Sayaka never used the sword," she said simply-she was getting impatient.

"That would make sense since there's no gold on her palms", Makoto agreed.

"Maybe she w-washed her hands after she e-escaped into the bathroom…" Toko proposed.

"It was nighttime," Karasu deadpanned.

"S-So what?" Toko demanded.

"The water in the bathroom shuts off at nighttime," Makoto elaborated.

"Oh… I didn't know that. Actually… I haven't taken a shower here yet…" Toko mumbled.

"Oh, my…" Hifumi muttered nervously.

"Y-You're no different! You s-smell like a big f-fat ugly donkey!" Toko screeched. 'Personally, I think he looks like a chipmunk,' Karasu thought idly.

"Hmm? I'm not sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment!" Hifumi said aloud.

"An insult, obviously…" Leon stated plainly.

"So anyway, if Sayaka never touched the sword, then that means the killer was the only one who used the sword. But hold on. If that's right, then the one who damaged the sheath with the kitchen knife was..." Taka murmured.

"Sayaka? She had the kitchen knife?" Makoto said in disbelief.

"But we already said that the attack started with…" Chihiro muttered.

"The person with the knife attacked first, and the sword was used as an impromptu defense," Byakuya said neutrally.

"Then the one who attacked first was…!" Hifumi began.

"...S-Sayaka!?" Makoto finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	6. The First Trial: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

 

'Sayaka attacked first…?' Karasu thought, horrified, 'There is more case is more thought at first. I wish Leon just told me the truth from the beginning…'

"Now do you understand? She wasn't a blameless victim in this," Kyoko said firmly; she expression betrayed no emotion.

"No, far from it. It's almost as if… she had been planning to commit a murder of her own," Byakuya added smugly.

Karasu looked over to Makoto only to see his shocked expression. 'Oh god, she tried to frame him for the murder she failed to commit!' Karasu thought aghast.

"She took the knife from the kitchen, then invited the culprit to the room she was staying in," Byakuya said as if he were speaking to toddlers, "And if it's true that she had the kitchen knife and attacked without provocation…"

"Indeed… these are all the actions of an assailant," Sakura agreed.

"Which brings up another point… Makoto, Sayaka was the one who suggested you two switch rooms, correct?" Celeste asked, "Maybe the reason she wanted to switch rooms...was so that she could pin the crime on you. That is a possibility, is it not?"

"Bloody hell," Karasu whispered aloud as Makoto gasped, "Sayaka wanted to-on me!?"

"What's wrong? I was under the impression that you already knew who did it," Byakuya said mockingly.

"I do know who did it," she said, "but I don't know how he did it happened."

"He?" Byakuya pressed.

"The culprit is male. That's all I'm going to say right now," Karasu said as she felt her magic itching to lash out, "I  _need_  to calm down."

Kyoko raised her eyebrow at the emphasis on need, but she remained silent.

"That would also explain why she would switch the nameplates. She wanted to get whoever she had targeted to come to Makoto's room, where she was staying…" Celeste elaborated calmly, "and by committing the murder there, instead of her room, that would implicate Makoto. But for that to work, the target had to be lured out while still keeping the room swap a secret. If the target knew she had switched rooms, they would have become suspicious right away."

"So all that's why she switched the names…?" Mondo asked.

"But doesn't that plan seem a little risky?" Hifumi asked uncertainly, "For one thing, even if her plan worked, Mr. Naegi would just tell everyone they'd switched rooms."

"I don't know… I'm not sure our softhearted Makoto is capable of that kind of cutthroat behavior," Byakuya stated confidently, "I'm sure Sayaka realized the same thing, which is why out of all of us, she asked him to switch rooms."

Makoto stood there silently, taking in everything.

"P-Plus… she *was* the Ultimate Pop Sensation," Toko added, "A t-totally forgettable kid, o-or a national superstar… Who are you m-more likely to believe?"

"Wait, then… you're saying she had this all planned out…?" Hifumi asked.

"Holy shit!" Mondo shouted in horror.

"But in the end, her plan backfired. She launched her attack with the knife, then found herself under attack in turn," Celeste continued, "That must be when her wrist got broken, and she was forced to drop the knife."

"The tables were suddenly turned on her, and she died at the hands of the one she planned to murder…" Sakura concluded.

"J-Just hold on! That can't be true!" Makoto shouted; he had finally found his voice again, "Because…! Because…"

"Because you don't want to believe it, is that it?" Karasu asked softly.

"I-I" Makoto stuttered.

"It's okay. I'm upset too. The fact that we're here means that one of my friends killed another," Karasu said shakily, "But I am not about to let him take the lives of the rest of my friends!"

"Y-You're right. It's not just my life at stake, but my friends too," Makoto said, "For-"

"Hey, hey! You guys have totally derailed the argument!" Monokuma shouted, "You're being super boring right now! Come on, hurry up and decide who did it! Wouldn't it be awful if I had to punish you all just because you ran out of time!?"

"Oh yeah… We gotta decide who we think did it…" Hiro said.

"It's easy just to say, 'Hey, decide who did it!" Leon complained loudly, "But there just aren't any more clues, right?"

"No, that's wrong!" Makoto shouted, "There still might be one clue left-Sayaka's dying message."

"Dining-wait, what did you say?" Leon asked startled.

"The dying message. She wrote something on the wall behind her, remember?" Kyoko explained, "11037, written in her own blood. There must be a clue about the killer hidden in there…"

"Wait a moment, I drew it in my notebook," Karasu said as she reached into her bag and pulled out her notebook yet again. She flipped past a few pages before she dis

played the "numbers" for all to see.

"Well, before we get too far into that, I need to ask…" Celeste wondered aloud, "Can we really be sure that Sayaka was the one who wrote it?"

"Her left index finger had blood on it," Makoto stated, "That could only be because she used that finger to write the message."

"I see… She broke her right wrist during the fight, so she'd have to use her left hand to write…" Taka added.

"Sure, I think we can all agree Sayaka wrote it, but still…" Hina said, "What the heck do those numbers mean? 11037?"

"Hey Chihiro, you're a computer nerd or whatever, right? You should know all about numbers and shit!" Mondo asked excitedly.

"N-No, that's not… Yes, I'm a programmer, but I don't see any kind of meaning in these numbers," Chihiro explained.

"...Of course. It's because they're not numbers," Kyoko said.

"I'm not surprised. There was no reason to assume that Sayaka had any background in programming," Karasu commented, "but it's best to have all bases covered, right?"

"Oh! Yeah, it looks like…" Hifumi muttered uncertainly.

"Huh? What? What!?" Mondo exclaimed excitedly.

"No, it's just… look at the numbers assuming they're *not* numbers," Hifumi explained, "Don't these first two, 11, look less like two numbers and more like one letter?"

"Ah, you're right! The connecting line is barely there, so I assumed it was 11, but…" Chihiro said, staring at the notebook. "Looking at it now, you could also read it as an N!"

"Whoa! You might've finally said something worth a shit!" Mondo complimented.

"Bwehehe! Our little gray cells are really getting excited now!" Hifumi chuckled ominously. 'Are brain cells gray?' Karasu wondered idly, waiting for the others to solve the simple puzzle.

"But even if that really is an N, 'N037' doesn't make any more sense than before…" Sakura commented solemnly.

Kyoko stood silent for a moment before she said, "Rotate the image 180 degrees."

Karasu rotated her notebook 180 degrees and held it up to show everyone.

"Leon?" several of her peers read aloud.

"Oh my god… Now I see! She wrote down the killer's name…"

"LEON!?" Mondo roared.

"Wh-!?" Leon gasped. 'Is this what she meant by evidence I left behind?' he wondered.

"What the hell are you talking about!? I-It's just a coincidence!" Leon stuttered fearfully, before he shouted, "It's just a bunch of random squiggles that happen to look like my name!"

"No, it's not random at all," Kyoko countered, "She wrote that message on the wall behind her as she was leaning up against it. In that position, she couldn't move to write normally and had to write upside down, as it were. And as a result… When you look at it standing in front of her, it ends up getting flipped. Try it for yourself, if you want. Write something sitting like her, and the letters will be inverted."

"Th-That sounds like one hell of a stretch to me…!" Leon declared; his voice tinted with fear. "I'm the killer!? You can't just go say shit like that!"

"If you're *not* the killer, then why did you try to destroy the evidence?" Kyoko demanded confidently.

"...Huh?" Leon grunted.

"Are you talking about the burnt shirt piece found lying on the ground by the incinerator?" Karasu asked.

"As the killer stabbed Sayaka, they must have gotten some of her blood on them. And to dispose of the shirt covered in the victim's blood, they threw it into the incinerator," Kyoko answered.

"But one piece burned off and got left behind…" Celeste noted.

"And the killer didn't notice. If they had, they most certainly would have panicked," Kyoko explained, "Isn't that right, Leon?"

"S-So wh-what?" Leon stuttered nervously. Kyoko raised an eyebrow; she wasn't expecting Leon to act relatively calm.

"But is one scrap of fabric enough to conclude that Leon is guilty?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Yeah… I mean, Leon's not the only one wearing a white button up…" Chihiro pointed out.

"Th-That's right! There are plenty of other people here with shirts like mine!" Leon shouted defensively, "With just that one little charred piece, there's no way you can say for sure who it belongs to!

"That's true. With only one charred piece, we can't say that it was Leon's," Karasu noted.

"But there are some other points that may reveal the truth… If we look closely at how the shirt was disposed of, we should be able to figure out who the killer is," Makoto realized.

"That's a good point. I think I know what you're gonna say… You can't reach the incinerator without opening the gate in front of the trash room, right?" Leon said, "And obviously you wouldn't be able to hit the switch to turn it on, either. You'd need the key to get in. And the only one with the key was the janitor!"

"So the only one wh-who could get to the in-ncinerator was…" Toko stammered, the p-person in charge of the t-trash?"

"No, way," Karasu said.

"What do you mean 'no way'?" Leon demanded.

"Have I ever worn a white button up?"

"You might have as pajamas!"

"Would I leave my room in my pajamas?"

"..."

"And on top of that, I have the key. If I was the killer, there is no reason that scrap was left behind since I could just walk up to the incinerator and toss it in. And the incinerator wouldn't be left on 'cause I would be able to turn it off."

"It had to have been you," Leon stated, "You're the only one who could've done it. You'd have to get close to the incinerator in order to destroy the evidence."

"Hold on!" Makoto shouted, "I think I know how someone could dispose of the evidence without using the trash room key!"

"But if you can't get past the gate, you couldn't possibly turn on the incinerator, could you?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, you could," Makoto began and he glanced around, making eye-contact with everyone in the room.  _'If you used the glass ball…'_ Karasu heard him say and her eyes went wide with realization.

"You'd have to throw it through the gap in the gate!" Karasu shouted.

"Huh?" Hiro said intelligently.

"Throw what?" Mondo demanded irritably.

"Throw what? Weren't you listening? Makoto just said it!" Karasu swept her hand toward Makoto.

"But he didn't," Kyoko stated simply as she stared at her.  _'I feel like I'm missing one important piece of the puzzle…'_ Kyoko said but her lips didn't move.

' _Could I be reading her thoughts!?'_ Karasu thought,  _'That's not possible...right?'_

"Anyway, Karasu's right. You'd be able to turn on the incinerator if you just threw the glass ball and hit the switch," Makoto explained, "Once they'd gotten the incinerator going, all they had to do was ball up the shirt and toss it in!"

"H-Hey, come on… what the hell is this?" Leon asked nervously. He felt like the walls closing him in, trapping him.

"All you have to do is look at the scene to know that the killer never actually went inside the trash room. The shards of broken glass, the incinerator left running, the piece of shirt that escaped the fire… If the killer had been on cleaning duty, the evidence would have been taken care of much more thoroughly."

"But couldn't the killer just as easily arranged the scene that way to throw suspicion off herself?" Leon leaned forward and clutched the stand as if he was holding onto a lifeline.

"That's possible but, that's not what happened," Karasu stated.

"Explain," Byakuya demanded.

"The circumstances behind Sayaka's death prove it. Sayaka planned a murder but then was killed by the target, which means that this murder wasn't planned. The disposal of the evidence was hasty and sloppy because the killer wasn't expecting a class trial," Karasu explained.

"That is… definitely possible," Byakuya resigned.

"Also, I took the liberty of interviewing Sakura. She said that Karasu reopened her wound when she arrived at Hina's dorm. The Sakura's bloodstained shirt correlates with that. This labels her as a suspicious person but I think it's highly unlikely that the killer would make such a bold move… wouldn't you agree?" Kyoko asked.

"That makes sense…" Makoto agreed.

"But the distance from the gate to the incinerator has to be at least… thirty feet, right?" Chihiro pointed out, "The pinpoint accuracy you'd need to throw a glass ball that far and hit something that small… Could someone really do that?"

"Th-That's right! There's no way! It'd be impossible!" Leon exclaimed in desperation.

"Difficult, absolutely. Impossible? I don't think so. Because the killer is the Ultimate Baseball Star. Isn't that right, Leon!?" Makoto accused.

"D-Do you have any idea how stupid you sound right now!?" Leon demanded.

"A target thirty feet away would surely be little challenge for the Ultimate Baseball Star," Celeste stated cleverly. If he denied that statement, he would be admitting that he was unworthy of his title; If he confirmed, he would admit to murder.  _'Celeste really knows how to put people between a rock and a hard place…'_  Karasu thought idly.

"Y-Y-Y-You can't be serious! I…! I…!" Leon stuttered heavily before he snapped, "I'M NOT THE KILLER! THESE GODDAMN SHIT-FOR-BRAINS HAVE GOT IT ALL WRONG, I'M TELLING YOU!"

"Interesting. Karasu," Byakuya demanded, "Did you see Leon last night?"

"Yes," Karasu confirmed.

"Oh, YOU'RE GOING TO BELIEVE ANYTHING SHE SAYS NOW, HUH!?" Leon shouted angrily, "I BET YOU BELIEVE THE BULLCRAP ABOUT FLOATING FEATHERS TOO!"

"You still won't admit it? Okay then… Makoto, go ahead and review the incident one more time to make his crime perfectly clear, and with that, we can end this…" Kyoko said resolutely.

"LISTEN TO ME! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, END THIS!?" Leon demanded.

"Say what you want, Leon. But all the questions have been answered, and the truth has been revealed. Now here's what happened!" Makoto shouted.

"I think I'd better take one more look back at the case from the beginning… Last night, the killer went to the room Sayaka was in. In other words, my room. From what we know, Sayaka invited that person there intending to kill them. She attacked them with the knife she'd taken from the kitchen earlier… but then something happened she wasn't prepared for. They grabbed the fake sword I'd placed in my room, and fought back. During the struggle, a strike from the sword broke Sayaka's right wrist… and she lost he grip on the kitchen knife. Finding herself cornered, Sayaka panicked and ran into the bathroom. The killer went after her, but couldn't get the bathroom door open. What they didn't know was that my bathroom door gets stuck easily, and there was a trick to opening it. Sayaka knew about that because I'd told her, but of course the killer had no way of knowing. So instead, the killer forced the door open, took the kitchen knife… and stabbed Sayaka. But with what strength she had remaining, Sakaya left a dying message… to keep the killer from noticing, she wrote it on the wall behind her… With Sayaka dead, the killer quickly began destroying the evidence. First, they took off their shirt, which was covered in their victim's blood. Then they too the lint roller in my room and cleaned up the entire area. They wanted to make sure they got rid of any trace they'd ever been there… Afterwards, the killer headed to the trash room to destroy their bloody shirt. They tried to burn the shirt using the incinerator there. But the trash room was blocked off by an especially sturdy gate, preventing access to the incinerator. So they came up with a plan to use Hiro's crystal ball, which he'd left in the laundry room. The killer managed to throw the ball through the gap in the gate and hit the incinerator switch. For any normal person, that'd be an impossible throw, but the killer had the confidence to take a shot. And that's because the killer… was the Ultimate Baseball Star. The crystal ball, thrown with absolute precision, hit the switch on the incinerator… which then quickly roared to life. Having destroyed the final piece of evidence, they left the area with, I imagine, a sigh of relief. But there was one thing they missed… Part of the shirt they'd thrown into the fire burnt away and fell out of the incinerator. The killer didn't notice this, and so left behind a piece of indisputable evidence," Makoto said quickly, yet clearly. He briefly stopped to breath every now and again, but he pushed through-there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Isn't that right… Leon!?" Makoto demanded, "It would appear that Hiro simply forgot his crystal ball in the laundry room. You went there to try and wash the blood out of your shirt, and that's where you saw it, right? Seeing the ball, you thought of a way to take care of everything."

"So, Leon… do you object to anything that's been said?" Kyoko asked.

"Do I object…?" Leon asked, "HELL YES I OBJECT! OF COURSE, I DO! I OBJECT, I OBJECT, I OBJECT! I MEAN, ALL OF THIS IS JUST A BUNCH OF STUPID THEORIES! YOU NEED EVIDENCE! WHERE'S THE EVIDENCE!? WITHOUT EVIDENCE, IT'S ALL BULLSHIT! IT'S BULLSHIT AND I REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT!"

"You and I both know you're guilty Leon!" Karasu shouted angrily. Leon faltered for a split second before he shouted, "OH YEAH? PROVE IT!"

"You-" Karasu began before Kyoko interrupted, "Well then, I guess this is as good a time as any to present the evidence that proves you did it, Leon. Makoto… I believe you're in possession of that evidence?"

"Pfft… please, we all are aware what it is. We mentioned it earlier," Karasu snarked.

"That's right. When the killer broke the bathroom doorknob, they didn't use anything from your room to do it. So what *did* the killer use?" Kyoko asked rhetorically.

"I refuse to acknowledge you! You're stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid!"

"Where's your proof!?" "Not a chance!" "It wasn't me!" "You kiddin' me!?" Leon shouted, not listening to reason.

"Stupid!" Leon shouted again.  _'My opinion of you gets worse and worse every single time you say stupid.'_  Karasu mentally chided him as she stared at Leon. Leon just kept ranting.

"You lie!" "Stop talking!" "Shut up!" Leon was simply not letting anyone get a word in, but it was obvious he was running out of breath, "Without evidence, it's all bullshit! It's bullshit and I refuse to acknowledge it!"

"The screws on the bathroom doorknob were removed," Makoto cut in, "I wonder what kind of tool the killer used to remove them…"

"I mean… it had to be a screwdriver, right?" Mondo asked uncertainly.

"Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure the toolkits we got each had one inside," Hiro commented.

"Then that must be what he used! There aren't any other tools anywhere," Hifumi agreed.

"But the toolkit in my room had clearly never been used…" Makoto pointed out.

"That's because the culprit didn't know it was your room! They thought they were in Sayaka's room!" Taka explained.

"Only the boys got toolkits, so the killer naturally assumed there wouldn't be one in there…" Chihiro added.

"Okay, the whose toolkit did the killer use?" Makoto asked.

"Stupidstupidstupid!" Leon ranted.

"It had to be their very own toolkit!" Makoto asserted.

"Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupid!" Leon ranted some more.

"Leon, would you mind showing us your toolkit? If I'm right about this, then… the screwdriver will show some evidence of being used!" Makoto declared.

"Stupidstupidstu… uh, huh?" Leon mumbled in confusion.

"And if you say you used it for something else, you'll have to explain exactly when, where, and why…" Byakuya pressed.

"And let me say this right now… 'I lost it' isn't an excuse at this point," Kyoko warned.

"Stu...pid. Stu…" Leon's rant slowed to a halt, "pid?"

"So, you have no rebuttal?" Byakuya commented with a smirk.

"Then it would seem… we are finished here," Celeste announced.

After a few moments of silence, Monokuma giggled childishly.

"Puhuhuhu… Looks like you reached your verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes?" the bear asked, "You all have a lever in front of you. Use it to make your selection! Oh, just to remind you all… Make triple sure you vote for someone! You wouldn't want to be punished for something so minor, right?"

Everyone stood silently-Karasu's fists clenched-at the not-so-subtle reminder of the cost of breaking the rules.

"Okay! Then let's get excited! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?" Monokuma narrated, "What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeee!?"

Beside Monokuma's throne, a slot machine rose up from the ground. Instead of symbols or the number 7, was a mini portrait of each student-the deceased were in black and white.  _'Wait a second, why is Monokuma on there too!?'_  Karasu wondered with a jolt.

Everyone waited in suspense as the machine slowed and locked in the first slot. Leon. The second slot locked. Leon. The final slot locked. Leon.

The machine chimed cheerfully, announcing Leon as the culprit. Everyone froze in horror as their fears-fears they desperately hoped were unfounded-were confirmed. One of them had killed another in cold blood.

Suddenly confetti fell from the ceiling and the machine spewed golden coins with Monokuma's face detail onto the floor. Balloons and bouquets of flowers appeared throughout the room.

"Uh-oh! Looks like you guys got it right on the money!" Monokuma announced happily-basking in the mess he made, "The blackened in this case, the one that killed Sayaka… was none other than Leon Kuwata!"

The ugly truth stared them right in the eyes, everyone looked at Leon, desperate for an excuse, an explanation. Leon said nothing for a moment before he grunted, "Huh?"

Leon licked his lips nervously, "H-Hold on a second…"

"Leon, did you really… kill Sayaka?" Makoto asked calmly but sadly.

"I don't believe it…" Hina said as she covered her mouth and gagged.

"Son of a bitch…! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Mondo cursed.

"I-I didn't have a choice… It was kill or be killed!" Leon justified.

"But Leon, you did have a choice…" Karasu murmured softly.

"S-So that's why… I killed her first," Leon confessed, "None of you are any different! One wrong step and you'd be the one standing here! It was complete chance that I wound up like this! I was just… unlucky! That's all..."

"Grr…!" Mondo grunted-he had no idea what to say to that.

"H-Hey, come one…! You expect me to just accept my death!?" Leon demanded.

"No, we don't!" Karasu shouted, "We don't… but at least you don't have to live with the guilt of killing us all. That would be worse than death… We will have to live with the guilt of condemning you to death! So don't go around expecting sympathy!"

Everyone stared at Karasu. Her golden eyes spilled tears like a waterfall and her nose was obviously running. She sniffled-Kyoko couldn't help but notice something shifted in her eye as she blinked,  _'Was she wearing contact lenses?' Kyoko wondered_ -and cried, "I could have stopped this if I had woken up earlier. Then Sayaka would still be here and you wouldn't be a murderer. Hell… Junko would still be with us too! I… I…"

Karasu's cries turned into sobs. Her pained cries seemed to get louder and louder by the second. She hiccuped and Makoto took advantage of the momentary quiet.

"It's all because of that video… Even I couldn't handle what I saw in there. If I was her, and that video actually had something to do with me. I can't even imagine… The one thing that was more important to her than anything else-her dreams, her friends… To have to see something like that happen to them… And Sayaka…"

"Boy howdy! The entertainment industry must surely be terrifying, huh!? I mean, to try and kill someone just because of those relationships!" Monokuma said with emphasis on  _relationships_ , "She seemed so nice and lovely on the outside, but inside… she'd descended into pure madness!"

"Wh...what did you say?" Makoto growled.

"I understand, really I do. Yup yup! You're in utter despair thanks to Sayaka's betrayal, right?" Monokuma sympathized mockingly, "Compassion, intimacy, love… The stronger those feelings, the stronger the despair when they collapse!"

"Stop screwing with us! This is all your fault!" Makoto yelled angrily, "Sayaka being forced to do something like that… All of it… Everything…! It's all your fault!"

Then Makoto, normally shy and kind, lunged for the bear with malicious intent. Kyoko grabbed him by the wrist with an iron grip.

"That's enough," Kyoko commanded, "If you really want to make her enemies pay for what they've done, you need to let it go for now."

Makoto stood there silently before he cursed. "Dammit!"

"Ahh, that was a close one! I thought for sure you were gonna give me a good walloping! Just barely avoided punishment, you did!" Monokuma snarled then moved on, "Now then! Since you so magnificently revealed the identity of the killer during the class trial...the blackened, Leon Kuwata, will receive his punishment!"

"P-Punishment? You mean...e-execution?" Leon asked then proceeded to beg for his life, "W-Wait a second! I didn't have a choice! I HAD to kill her! Y-Yeah, that's it! I was just protecting myself in the heat of the moment! It was self-defense!"

"How, exactly, was it self-defense? When you forced your way into the bathroom, did you or did you not use your very own toolkit?" Celeste asked coldly, "After she'd shut herself in the bathroom, you went out of your way to head back to your own room...Then you came all the way back, broke into the bathroom, and killed her. Am I wrong? You had any number of chances to stop what you were doing. But you chose not to. Is it not because you had an unclouded intent to commit murder?"

"N-No! That's not…!" Leon stammered.

"Stop it… I've had enough of this," Makoto decided.

"Oh? Are you sure? You were closer to her than anyone, were you not? He killed your precious Sayaka. Do you understand?" Celeste asked.

"I can't say Leon is solely to blame. Of course, I don't plan on blaming Sayaka, either. Because… Because the one to blame… is him!" Makoto stated firmly.

"S'waaah!?" Monokuma muttered.

"If it weren't for you… this never would have happened to Sayaka OR Leon!" Makoto said, "We shouldn't be fighting each other… We should be fighting against the one who put us in this situation! The mastermind!"

"That's… That's right. I shouldn't give in. I need to keep my head up," Karasu mumbled, "Because…"

"Uh-oh! Did you awaken to your sense of justice!? Well, it just so happens that there's nothing more unethical than an unwavering sense of justice. After all, it's people with that sort of mentality that perpetuate war all over the world. Is that the kind of justice that's awakened within you!?" Monokuma asked.

"Just.. shut up!" Makoto demanded.

"It's not justice… It's resolve. We will destroy everything you've built!" Karasu said heroically before she sniffled, demolishing her brave declaration.

"Okay, well, anyway. More importantly…! Let's hurry up and get to what everyone's been waiting for! The punishment!" Monokuma announced.

"I'm begging you…! Please, don't do this!" Leon wailed.

"No more begging! No more excuses! You must pay the penalty for breaking the rules! Society demands it!" Monokuma declared.

"S-Stop, please…!" Leon begged helplessly.

"No that's what you want, you bloody bear! Society implies that we decide the punishment. I say we put him under house arrest for a mouth then on probation once released for two months," Karasu countered. Monokuma ignored her.

"Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Baseball Star!" Monokuma shouted.

"No no no no no no no!" Leon chanted.

"Let's give it everything we've got! It's… PUNISHMENT TIIIME!" Monokuma announced gleefully.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Leon screamed as a large, red button appeared before Monokuma. Monokuma raised his mallet dramatically before he slammed it down. The button chimed cheerfully as Leon's execution began.

Everyone stood in silence, dreading what was to come. Suddenly, Leon was dragged backward by the neck. His hand instinctively clawed at the clasp around his neck while the other was outstretched in a silent plea for help.

None came. He was pulled back. Both hands clawed at his restraint. Legs kicked uselessly as he struggled.

Then he was bound to a post in the middle of a batting cage-the gate closed. Monokuma appeared behind a machine gun; it modified to shoot baseballs. It let out a puff of smoke as it whirred to life.

' _I can't stand by and watch this!'_  Karasu thought determinedly and felt her magic respond to her will, her intent.

The first shot was fired…

...and bounced harmlessly off an invisible barrier.

Karasu felt her magic hold firm and she had hope, that maybe, just maybe she could protect Leon.

Her fellow peers' eyes widened in shock.

' _I don't know how, but Karasu is behind these strange occurrences. That's the only-if unlikely-conclusion,'_ Kyoko thought as she watched the spectacle before her; she noticed that Karasu had sweat trickling down her neck, her focus solely on Leon.

Then a barrage of balls were fired at breakneck speeds, impacted the same area repeatedly. To Karasu, it felt like something or someone was poking a bruise repeatedly. She grit her teeth.

Then the barrage came from all angles. It felt she was being forced into a cupboard too small for her.

Then it shattered. There was the sound of glass shattering-but not quite-and Leon's first scream of pain since the execution began. A particularly nasty  _thuck_  and Leon's scream was cut short.

The gates opened. Mindlessly, everyone walked in. Some watched their steps, they didn't want to step on the glass.

But there was no glass on the ground.

"Wooohooo! Extreeeeeeemmmmmeeeee! Man, my adrenaline is pumping right outta control!" Monokuma squealed happily.

"Uwah…! Uwaaaaaahhh!" Hifumi squeaked in terror.

Karasu knees buckled and she collapsed on all fours.

"Wh-Wh-What's going o-on!?" Toko screamed.

"I-I can't take this anymore…!" Chihiro whimpered, "Do we really have to keep doing this? I just can't take it!"

"Well hey, if you don't like it… all you gotta do is swear to cut ties with the outside world and accept living here forever!" Monokuma said before he laughed maniacally. "Waahahahaha! Bwaaahahaha!"

"Man, fuck you… Why the fuck are you doing all this evil shit to us!?" Mondo demanded.

"Evil!? You make it sound like I'm some dark, awful, secret society type of guy!" Monokuma cocked his head to the side, "Or in this case a dark, awful, secret society type of BEAR!"

"Um, so why are you putting an upstanding young citizen like me through such a grueling ordeal?" Hifumi asked.

"It seems like you're trying to use common sense to make sense of something that doesn't make sense! That's like trying to put a mile on a scale! I just don't think it's possible…"

"Hey, uh, I don't think what you're saying and what I'm saying quite fit together."

"You piece of shit! I don't know who you are but I'm gonna pound your ass into the ground!" Mondo threatened.

"Puhuhu. You must really hate me to get so angry, huh? But if you do that, you're barking waaay up the wrong tree," Monokuma pointed out, "What happened, happened because more than one of you decided you wanted to get out, right? No matter how much time passes, you can't cut free of your regrets from the outside world. You're to blame!"

"Of course we can't cut f-free of the outside world! Being trapped in this insane p-place…!" Toko cut in.

"Hmmm… You're trapped, are you? Well, I'm sure once you figure out all of the mysteries of this school, your thinking will change for sure," Monokuma commented, "You'll think, 'Boy, isn't it so wonderful how we all get to live here forever!?"

"What are you trying to say…?" Taka asked.

"I feel like there's some deeper meaning hidden in there… Just like before," Kyoko commented, "When you say 'everyone'... who exactly are you referring to?"

"Sorry, I said everything I've got to say! I need to save some of the fun for later!" Monokuma dodged the question, "Bwaahahaha!"

Monokuma disappeared, leaving everyone to deal with their mess of emotions.

"Nn...gh-!" Taka grunted.

"..." Mondo said nothing.

"..." Chihiro said nothing.

"Makoto, Can I talk to you for a second?" Kyoko asked as she walked over and pulled him aside.

Karasu finally found the strength to stagger to her feet.  _'I have to get out of here,'_  she thought desperately as she felt her emotions spin out of control.

So she ran. And ran. And ran. And ran. Her locked dorm room flew open and slammed shut-locking again-behind her.

She slid to the ground, her back to the door.

Anything that wasn't nailed down was thrown across the room.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	7. It's a Big World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.
> 
> Fixed

 

"Sorry, I'm late…" Makoto apologized as he walked into Cafeteria; where everyone, except Karasu, Hina, and Sakura, was waiting.

"You sure took your sweet time! I was just about to go get you and drag you back here!" Taka shouted.

"S-Sorry…"

"So? What happened? Was your room fixed up like he said? I imagine it would be pretty hard to sleep with a rotting corpse in your bathroom!" Taka laughed.

"Jesus, that's fucked up, man. Why would you say something like that?" Mondo demanded.

"My room was… spotless. There wasn't anything left," Makoto paused, "Like the whole thing… never happened."

"It must be tough staying there, knowing what happened. Why don't you just stay in Sayaka's room?" Sakura asked as she walked in.

"Well… staying there, with her scent still hanging in the air… That would hurt just as much. Plus, I've decided that I can't turn away from her death," Makoto explained, "How is Karasu?"

"She's in her room; she won't come out though. Hina is trying to coax her out," Sakura replied, "I'm worried about her."

"I am too. She took this harder than I did," Makoto said sadly, "But we have to stick together and be there for each other!"

"Hmph. How naive," Byakuya countered.

"Huh?" was Makoto's intelligent reply.

"We were already 'working together' and yet someone was still murdered. Anyone could betray us at this point. Now that it's happened once, it's a question of when, not if, the next one takes place." Byakuya explained.

"Yeah, because S-Sayaka made the first move…" Toko agreed.

"But if we don't work together against the mastermind-," Makoto began.

"Keep telling yourself that. I'll be over here in the real world," Byakuya cut in rudely, "Working together, fighting a common enemy… Like it or not, it's not that simple."

Hifumi hesitated, "What do you mean?"

"The mastermind seems to be much more powerful than we ever suspected. They took over Hope's Peak, which was supposed to be well defended, and then modified it to fit their desire. They created Monokuma, which seems to be incredibly advanced, and they're providing for our every need. And the cherry on top is the execution we witnessed. Everything has been planned down to the last excruciating detail," Celeste explained, "This is not the work of your everyday psychopath. Defying them may be too great of a risk…"

"Then… what are we supposed to do?" Sakura asked.

"Anyone who truly does want to escape… will just have to follow the rules. In which case, the only option is to deceive those around you, and win the game," Byakuya answered simply.

"N-No…" Chihiro cut in shyly.

"No what?" Byakuya demanded angrily.

"I don't want to live… if it means killing someone else to do it. I don't want to kill anyone else…! Chihiro cried out.

"Anyone… else? What do you mean?" Hiro asked.

" _H-Hey, come one…! You expect me to just accept my death!?" Leon demanded._

" _No, we don't!" Karasu shouted, "We don't… but at least you don't have to live with the guilt of killing us all. That would be worse than death… We will have to live with the guilt of condemning you to death! So don't go around expecting sympathy!"_

"Karasu is right. Leon died because we all voted for him." Chihiro stated tearfully, "It's no different from us killing him ourselves!

"But…" Hiro said uncomfortably.

"If you heap that blame on yourself, you'll turn into a full-fledged masochist," Hifumi tried to comfort her-and failed.

"Chihiro, listen… You're not to blame. Not you, not Leon, and not Sayaka. The mastermind is responsible for everything that's happened. We had no choice but to vote. I can't even imagine what would've happened to us if we'd refused… And in the end, it was Monokuma who ultimately killed Leon…! So don't waste your anger on yourself...Instead, direct it at the mastermind!"

*Ding dong, bing bong*

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially night time. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited," Monokuma said from the monitor, "Oh, and one other thing…"

* * *

~Dorms~

"...It was totally obvious before that you were trying to make yourselves feel better and justify what you did."

Karasu's golden eyes widened and her tears weld up tenfold. She buried her face into her folded arms and sobbed. Her door pulsed behind her as if someone was pounding on it with their fist.

"Don't listen to him!" Hina screamed at Karasu as she pounded on the door, "Don't listen to…" the fight suddenly left Hina and she collapsed to the floor, crying.

Karasu, needless to say, never heard Hina's comforting words or sobs. The room was soundproof. Both girls sat on either side of the door, crying.

"See you, see you, don't see you, see you! That's about how much I can see you, even when you try to hide! Now pay attention and remember this well! The burden of judging others is a heavy one to bear. So be well aware of your actions! Order and stability rely on the sacrifice and responsibility of everyone!" Monokuma continued with his nightly announcement.

* * *

~Cafeteria~

"...Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite…"

"What w-was that about just n-now…?" Toko demanded irritably.

"Was he saying it's our fault that happened? That's pretty cruel, man…" Hiro muttered, depressed.

"That piece of shit! Who does he think he is!?" Mondo yelled angrily.

And with that, all of Makoto's efforts to keep everyone together fell through. Everyone headed to their respective dorms for the night. Hina stayed outside of Karasu's room until she could barely keep her eyes open; she collapsed on her bed and didn't bother to change into her pajamas.

" _It's all your fault you know," said a mysterious voice. Karasu opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by total darkness. She had a funny feeling she'd been there before. As her eyes adjusted, she realized there was someone in front of her. The figure had their back to what Karasu assumed was a door; from the edges, a trickle of light illuminated the room just enough to cast faint shadows._

" _What is? Who are you?" Karasu asked._

" _Call me Nevermore," the mysterious, feminine voice said casually, "We failed."_

" _Failed what?"_

_Nevermore opened her eyes; they glowed bright green. "The world."_

_Karasu was confused. How did she fail the world? Before she could ask, Nevermore changed the subject._

" _Funny how things are all fun and games until someone dies. We were young, putting ourselves and our friends into danger for the sense of adventure."_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _That is until Cedric was murdered_ _."_

_Karasu paled. "H-How do you know that name!" she demanded fearfully._

" _You don't understand? Fine, I guess that's understandable…"_

" _Answer me! Let me out of here!" Karasu lunged for the door. It rattled._

" _It's locked. We'll have to be let out."_

_Karasu was hysterical. Where was she? What was going on? From above her, it sounded like someone was walking down...stairs? Dust fell from the ceiling along with a spider-Nevermore calmly plucked it off her shoulder._

_Suddenly a voice screeched, "Up! Get up!" And the door rattled as someone knocked rapidly._

" _Looks like this is where we part ways. Good luck."_

Karasu awoke with a start, her glasses dug painfully into her skin. She found her back against the door; she fell asleep crying by the door. The door rattled behind her.  _'Hina!'_  Karasu thought as she wrenched the door open.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Taka bellowed and she jumped back, startled, "WE WERE SUMMONED TO THE GYM AND YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP! WE'RE ALL WAITING ON YOU!

"What's he gonna do now?" Karasu groaned as she left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Calm, classical music echoed around the gym. "Okay! Lift your arms up, and down!" Monokuma, "One, two, three, four!"

"ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!" Taka chanted.

"Now reach waaay up, and bend waaay down! Tighten those muscles! Let's add a little strength, a little speed to those young bodies of yours!" the bear commanded, "Ahh, doesn't this feel just great!? Being stuck inside like this, you gotta make sure to stay healthy!"

"You're the o-one keeping us 'stuck inside'..." Toko pointed out.

"Don't sweat the small stuff! That's my motto," Monokuma huffed, "Whoa, I sounded pretty cool just now, doncha think?"

"Don't sweat the small stuff? That'll kill us all," Karasu scoffed. Monokuma just turned and stared at her.  _'Okay, this is a little unnerving but I'm not about to let that bear know it,'_ she thought and she glared back.

"So...why did you call us here? Certainly, it wasn't just to make us exercise…" Sakura said ominously. Clearly, she wasn't amused.

"'Just' to make you exercise? JUST to make you exercise!?" Monokuma spluttered, "If exercise makes you laugh, exercise will make you cry! Now, if you keep doing these exercise, you will uncover the secret of the Assassin's Fist! Passed down from generation to generation in the empire of darkness… The power can be yours!"

"That sounds like the kind of junk a middle schooler would come up with…" Hifumi muttered.

"Quit goofing off!" Karasu demanded irritably, agreeing with Hifumi.

"It doesn't matter! Just get to the point. Did you really call us down here just to exercise?" Makoto asked.

"Of course not! You think I have that kind of free time on my hands!?" Monokuma snarled.

"Okay, so then…" Makoto prompted.

"Ahh, I'd like to make an announcement! Every time you overcome a class trial here at Hope's Peak, a whole new world will open up to you!"

"A whole new world…?" Hiro asked, confused.

"It'd really suck if you had to live here forever with nothing to stimulate you! Besides, I know how you kids get these days with your ADD and ADHD. I gotta keep you motivated! So go ahead, look around all you want! Enjoy the brand new post-trial world til you explode!" after the bear said that bit, he vanished again.

"A new world…?" Makoto muttered.

"Is he talking about… a way to get outside?" Hina asked excitedly.

"That seems… unlikely," Celeste commented.

"Well, we don't know til we look!" Mondo shouted.

"Whatever he meant, it seems we'll have to search the school one more time," Sakura pointed out.

"Okay, then let's split up and start investigating!" Taka announced, "When you're done, everyone meet back up at the dining hall and we'll share what we found!"

"You're basically a one-trick pony, you know that?" Byakuya snarked.

"More like a stable food source! Now let's get moving!" Taka commanded.

"Ha! Stables!" Karasu giggled madly, clutching her stomach as she ran out and up the stair. She turned sharply to the left and ran down that hallway. She skidded to a halt before a pinkish-purple door with an anchor decal labeled 'Pool'. She heaved the door open and slipped inside.

"Gahh!" Karasu gasped, "Why is there a gun!?"

Her mind whirled until she came to the conclusion that attempting to go into the changing room of the opposite sex would be rewarded with gunfire. She decided that she would play it safe and stay on the left side of the room. On the girls' side. As close to the wall as possible.

Karasu walked up to the door labeled 'Girls' and turned the handle.

*Rattle rattle*

It was locked. However, there was what appeared to be a card reader on the wall beside the door. Absentmindedly, Karasu reached into her bag and swiped her Handbook across the scanner. There was a small flash of green light and the click of a lock and she dropped her handbook-it slid under a nearby kickboard shelf.

She fell forward, hitting the floor with a soft whoosh. She clicked her beak and pushed herself up with her black wings.  _'...wings?'_  Karasu thought idly.

"Look guys! There's a pool! POOL POOL POOL POOL POOL!" a familiar voice chanted excitedly.

' _Crap…'_  Karasu cursed before the door flew open and Hina, Chihiro, and Celeste walked in. They all stared at each other for what felt like forever, before Hina darted over and scooped her up off the ground.

"Aw, how did you get in here?" Hina cooed sweetly. As Chihiro and Celeste rushed over.

"Look at those eyes! Such a lovely shade of green…" Chihiro murmured.

"You do realize what this means, yes?" Celeste asked. Karasu cocked her head and stared at Celeste. She could see her thirst, her desire to escape this 'god forsaken place'. She froze, shocked. It wasn't that Celeste had avoided eye contact with her at all, she merely never tried to see what she was thinking.  _'Suddenly turning into a bird would shake anyone's composure I suppose…'_  Karasu thought idly. Her mind-reading ability was the first and only a bit of magic she had complete control over, it almost instinctively responded to her will.

"Hey, guys! Makoto greeted, "Why is there a bird here?"

"We found it sitting over there!" Hina gestured to the Girl's Locker Room.

"You realize that if a bird is able to get in then there may be a way out, right?" Celeste asked exasperatedly.

"Caw Caw," Karasu said as she tried to say, "No, I've been here since this game started-gah!"

Hina had started running. She was soon followed by Makoto, Celeste, and Chihiro. Together they burst into the library, where they found Kyoko, Hifumi, Toko, and Byakuya searching.

"Secrets of the Darkest Art? Magical Creature Encyclopedia? Moste Potente Potions? The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts? Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions? _"_  Byakuya read aloud incredulously. He dropped the books back onto the dusty table, "Ridiculous."

"Everyone! Look at this!" Hina shouted into Karasu's ear and she squawked in protest. Suddenly, all eyes were focused on her. Karasu ruffled her feathers nervously.

"Get everyone together," someone commanded but Karasu wasn't paying attention. She was not going to parade around with everyone as a bird. Now just when to make her escape…

She didn't have to wait long. Everyone exited the library and into the hallway. She pushed off and flapped her wings.

She may have lost her memories, but she was certain she was born to fly.

She flew back towards the first-floor stairway and spotted the blocked off stairwell to the third floor. The tip of her left wing gently brushed the wall as she turned sharply to the right.

"After it!" Hifumi announced in a deep voice. Heavy footsteps followed but she was almost there. She could slip through the gate and escape. Karasu dove for the gap in the gate, tucking her wings close to her body. She slipped through and spread her wings. She made it. She did a little loop-de-loop in her euphoria.

She landed on the third floor with a little hop.  _'Huh, so I can jump but not walk without falling on my face… That's right I'm a bird now… How do I change back?'_ Karasu wondered idly.

She lifted up one foot and placed it a centimeter in front of her; she wobbled but stayed upright. Then her other foot. She didn't wobble that time-she had bobbed her head instinctively.

She took a few more steps forward before she bumped into a wall. Karasu shook her head and tried to walk backward, failed and ended up on her back. She scrambled to her feet.  _'That's right… I can't see anything in front of me,'_ Karasu realized-mentally wincing at her oversight,  _'But overall, I see more as a bird…'_

Out of her left eye, she spotted a door with a round, blue window. She flew up to the handle and stretched out her neck-she suddenly got the vision of a woman that reminded her of a horse do the say to peek over a fence. By the looks of it, it was a rec room; it had a pool table, a game of darts, a locker, a magazine rack, a couple chairs, a loveseat, a display case, and a small table.

' _I need to get a better look, how do I open this door… as a bird?'_ Karasu asked herself. Inspiration struck and she hopped up and down repeatedly, trying to turn the handle. It didn't budge. She turned around and hung upside-down like a bat, flapping her wings. She managed to rotate it slightly, but it wasn't worth the effort. Even if she did manage to turn the handle completely, the door swung in and she doubted her small bird body would be able to push it open. She let go and flew back up to the handle.

She glowered at her reflection in the glass through her left eye. She was a small bird covered in black feathers and had unusually bright green eyes.  _'Celeste was right… my eyes are unusual… I don't think I've heard of a bird with eyes this green even with my memories removed,'_  Karasu thought to herself, _'Wait a minute… I could just break the glass and fly in!'_  Why didn't she think of it sooner? She turned her head and lunged.

TAP

Karasu stumbled back-her wings flew up to her beak-and fell to the floor, landing on her back. She had forgotten she was perched on a handle. Her brain felt like it was rattling in her skull.  _'Why do I get the feeling someone's laughing at me?'_ she wondered.

* * *

~Elsewhere~

"Ah haha hahaha ha!" a certain someone behind the scenes laughed hysterically.

* * *

' _No matter. I need to become human again!'_  Karasu thought desperately. Her red dress. Her bag. Her shoes. Her glasses. Her long, unruly hair. Her golden eyes. Her lightning-bolt scar.

She spread her wings on the floor beside her-as if she were about to make a snow angel. She could picture her original, human form clearly in her mind.

"Ouch!" Karasu yelped and jumped to her feet. Her feet had been pressed against the door and her hair was pinned beneath her so that when her legs grew longer, her hair was pulled.

But that didn't matter. She could open doors again. The doorknob was no match for her human hands. "Yes!" Karasu cheered gleefully, jumping up and down.

After she was satisfied with her investigation of the Rec Room, she checked both classrooms and them made her way to the Art Room. The back wall was covered in a variety of art-there was also a door leading to another room. There were four desks, eight stools, five statues, six canvases, and six lockers. The highest quality statue was the one depicting Monokuma.

She ignored that statue and walked swiftly to the door-even as a shiver ran down her spine.  _'It just looks so much like the real thing…'_  Karasu noticed. She opened the door and walked into what appeared to be a storage room specifically for art supplies. Various art supplies, like paint brushes, mallets, chisels, etc. lined the opposite wall. Along the right wall were canvases of many different sizes and some easels. Along the left, however, was a shelf filled with paper and a shelf filled with kickboards.

' _I'd expect more stuff is organized within the cabinet… what's that?'_  Karasu thought as she noticed a piece of paper on the ground. As she walked over to pick it up, she realized that it wasn't a piece of paper but a photo. A photo of Mondo, Leon, and Chihiro.

She stumbled back, shocked.

"That's mine!" Monokuma growled and made to snatch it up. Karasu, however, got to it first. "Give it back!" Monokuma demanded, waving his little arms around, "And you shouldn't be up here!"

"Why not? I thought I could explore at my own discretion," Karasu asked.

"With minimal restriction!" Monokuma reminded her.

"Oh, they were definitely minimal. They were so easy to bypass," Karasu snarked at the bear.

"I… You...Graah!" the bear snarled before he disappeared, leaving Karasu alone in the repository. She carefully placed the photo in her bag then placed her fists on her hips proudly. She practically skipped out into the hallway and down to a room labeled Physics Lab with a rather large machine inside.

"What is that?" Karasu asked aloud,  _'I probably shouldn't touch it…'_

She then tried to make sense of the monitors next to the machine.  _'It says… stuff…'_  Needless to say, she had no idea where to begin and decided to move on. She spotted a digital camera out of the corner of her eye.

' _I think I'll just leave it here… I can't think of any reason I would want it. Plus I don't think I will be able to show it to my classmates without any awkward questions.'_  Karasu thought as she headed towards the adjacent room,  _'But I can easily pass the photo along without raising suspicion.'_

The adjacent room appeared to be a storage room. It was rather messy, but there was plenty of room to walk.

Suddenly, she realized with a jolt, she was supposed to be meeting with the other once she finished exploring. Panicked, she ran from the room, down the hallway, and down the stairs; she skidded to a halt before the security gate. There was no one in sight.  _'They must be in the cafeteria… for my plan to work I am going to need to get to the cafeteria as a bird… but that's not going to happen if I am stuck up here.'_ Karasu analyzed her situation carefully then closed her eyes.

She pictured she was looking in a mirror. She imagined that instead of looking at her own reflection that she was looking at the bird's reflection. She felt like she was getting lighter, more fragile, and covered in pitch black feathers.  _'I did it. I probably should practice this transformation though…_ _it could help me stay sane in this place_ _; I feel less complex somehow…'_  Karasu noted as she squeezed through the bars then focused on her human form.

She thought happily, that the transformation was becoming second nature to her and she trotted happily back to the pool; she hoped to recover her handbook. Luckily for her, it was still hidden beneath the shelves. She slid it into her bag and left the room.

Now she just needed to fly into the cafeteria before nighttime.

She quickly morphed into a bird and soared through the hallways. When she approached the cafeteria entrance, by a stroke of pure luck, Mondo opened the door just in time to soar into the room.

"What the hell!" Mondo shouted, startled as he ducked.

"Mondo! Watch your language, this is a school environment!" Taka scolded.

"Is this the bird you were talking about?" Kyoko asked as she stared at the bird.

"It is," Hina replied instantly.

"But when I checked the windows, there was no spot that I noticed that a bird of that size could fit through. There were no holes. Period," Sakura reported.

"Perhaps there is a hole on the 3rd floor?" Celeste put forth.

"Maybe," Kyoko responded, "But for now we should head to back to our dorms. Nighttime is almost upon us."

No one argued and Karasu watched as everyone filed out of the cafeteria. She didn't have to wait long.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 PM. As such, it is officially night time. Soon the doors to the cafeteria will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited," Monokuma announced.  _'That could potentially be a problem… but he never said anything about exiting the cafeteria,'_ Karasu thought as she smirked-well as much as a bird could anyway.

"Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite…" Monokuma finished and as soon as the announcement ended, the cafeteria door's lock clicked.

She circled around the ground close to the kitchen and landed, shifting back into a young girl the instant her feet touched the ground. She ran into the kitchen, snatching up anything she could find that was long, thin, and green.

Once she felt like she had enough, she began to weave it into a makeshift nest. Once finished-it was still a bit flimsy-she scanned the room for somewhere to place the nest.

' _There!'_ Karasu thought as she stared at the camera mounted on the ceiling. She climbed on top of a nearby counter and gently placed the nest atop the camera.

"It's perfect," she exclaimed excitedly. This was going to work beautifully. Everyone would unite to uncover the mysteries of this school. There would be no more murders. She couldn't help it; she hopped off the counter and did a little jig.

Preparations complete, Karasu skipped out of the kitchen and up to the locked door. Unfortunately, the door did not lock from the inside but rather electronically.

' _Damn it, how am I supposed to get out!?'_  Karasu cursed.

*Click*

Karasu furrowed her eyebrows and reach out and pulled. The door swung open easily. "HEY," Monokuma shouted as she appeared in front of her.

Karasu gave him an unimpressed look. "What is it?" she asked in a bored tone.

"The cafeteria is off limits at nighttime!" Monokuma ranted furiously.

"I was under the impression that entering the cafeteria during night time was forbidden. You said nothing about what happened if you left the cafeteria or stayed in the cafeteria," Karasu rushed on before Monokuma could get a word in, "Besides a little demon like you should realize what this means."

The bear seemed to ponder her words. "Mean what?"

Karasu smirked, he had taken the bait. "Why that means that if someone was dumb enough to try to get something to eat would find that they could enter. And say they just happen to be foolish enough to enter; you would get to punish the poor sap. Wouldn't that make a little death-loving demon like you happy?" Karasu asked mockingly.

"Are you sure about that?" Monokuma's red eye glowed ominously.

"Yes," Karasu said confidently. Grasping at straws, she replied slowly, "By your own rules, I would technically be an accomplice to murder as I didn't actually do the killing myself."

Apparently, that was the right thing to say, because the bear grinned maliciously (It was always grinning), "I can't wait to see how you use these loopholes to murder!"

The bear ran off, his last bit said, and Karasu path was clear. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She walked to her dorm and unlocked it. Closing it behind her, she locked it and didn't bother to take her bag off.

Tomorrow she would carry out Phase 2 of her plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say! Thanks for letting me know about the repeated chapter YuukoNoSora!


	8. An Old Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

 

_She was creeping along a dark corridor. As she crept along she could hear the parchment crinkling from within her robes. She stopped and gently nudged a door open and slipped inside silently. She was in the girl's loo. She crept into one one the stalls, where a blue fire was lit beneath a cauldron. She tossed aside a blanket and picked up the nearby book and flipped through the pages._

_She stopped and smoothed out the page. Animagus potion. She held up her stick-wand-and whispered, "Lumos." She held the wand in her mouth as she copied down the entire page, underlining "Repeat 'Amato Animo Animato Animagus' at sunrise and sunset daily and right before taking the potion." "Hold mandrake leaf in mouth for 31 days." "Only consume potion during lightning storm."_

" _Nox," she whispered and her vision went dark._

Karasu's eyes shot open. She dashed over to the door and hurled it open and locked it behind her. She checked the time on her digital notebook; it was 6 AM. Only one hour until Taka would head to the cafeteria for breakfast. She hoped to hide school store until then but when she spotted the unlocked bath, she changed her plan.

' _It would be easier to hid in there since I won't have to change into a human just to open the door,'_  she thought and darted inside. A moment later she was a bird, lying in wait for Taka to wake up.

A door creaked open. Karasu froze. That couldn't be Taka, it's too early and he's stuck a stickler for rules. Curious, she peered around the corner to find Byakuya, walking purposefully towards the school.

' _I have time… I can see what he's doing and be back before Taka wakes,'_ Karasu decided before she ran after him. She was able to silently stalk him until he climbed the staircase to the second floor.

' _I can't jump that high!'_  she thought panicked, ' _I need to fly… but the sound of flapping wings might alert him… what if I just used my wings to propel myself up?'_

She hopped and flapped her wings once and easily landed on the next step. Repeating the process-timing it so she would climb one step with every step Byakuya took. She made it to the top without incident just in time to see Byakuya step into the library. He shut the door behind him, effectively preventing her from following him into the library.

' _Okay, he must be reading right? I can't think of any other reason he could be in the library…'_ Karasu thought indecisively. She couldn't decide whether to watch Byakuya or to return to her post. Ultimately, she figured that Byakuya wasn't reckless enough to murder so soon and returned to the bath.

After restlessly waiting in the bath, the announcement finally sounded.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

No sooner than when the bell rang, doors were slammed open and was slammed shut. She was almost positive it was Taka and was surprised to find that Chihiro, Hina, Sakura, Kyoko, Celest, Mondo, Hiro, and Hifumi. Fortunately they were chatting amongst themselves. She easily made it into the cafeteria without being spotted-she was almost spotted by Kyoko though.

"...Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" Monokuma finished his good morning announcement, "Oh, that's right! I wanted to let you know that your e-Handbooks have been updated! New regulations have been added, so please take a look and enjoy your school life more than ever before!"

' _I'll have to check that later…'_ Karasu noted idly as she darted underneath tables.

She made it into the kitchen without being detected. She then launched herself into the air and flew out, landing on a table close to the door. Through the glass, she could see Makoto as he walked towards the cafeteria.

He opened the door and Karasu took off; she could feel Kyoko's gaze on the back of her head. Makoto yelped and ducked as she soared over his head and into the bath. She as soon as her feet touched the floor she was human again; she reached into her bag and whipped out the photo and set it on the ground. She transformed back into the bird and picked up the photo in her beak.

Pushing off the ground, she soared towards the cafeteria again. To prevent Kyoko from getting too suspicious, she crashed into the glass with a loud THUD.

Hina got up and opened the door. "You poor-," she froze, "Guys… it's got something…"

Hina reached down to pick it up. Karasu, being the bird she was, dropped the photo, snapped at Hina's fingers, and flew away. She turned right and flew past Taka, who was hammering away at Byakuya's doorbell. She turned left and landed before her dorm room door, transforming back into her human self.

As quietly as she could, Karasu slowly turned the handle…

"KARASU! YOU'RE LATE!" Taka announced.

...and flinched then turned to face Taka.

"Sorry…" Karasu mumbled, "I just got up."

Taka eyed her messy hair and nodded. "Alright, just join everyone in the cafeteria," Taka ordered and walked down the hall-presumably to get the King of Tardiness out of bed.

Karasu had never been more thankful that her hair always looked like she had just gotten out of bed.

She passed by Taka again on her way to the cafeteria. She found Hina just where she left her, crouching at the cafeteria entrance. Karasu came to a halt in front of Hina, waiting for her to move on her own-and to see the results of her scheme.

But Hina was frozen solid; her gaze locked on the photo.

"Hina," Karasu asked worriedly, "What's that?"

"I… don't… know…" Hina replied softly; she looked bewildered. She was under the impression that everyone met each other for the first time after they were trapped here. If that was true then how could this picture exist.

Karasu bent down beside her as Sakura came running over. "Are you alright Hina?" Sakura asked.

"Come on Hina, let's show this to everyone," Karasu commanded gently as she tugged on Hina's arm.

"Show us what?" Sakura asked curiously. Karasu gently tugged it from Hina's grasp and held it up for Sakura to see.

"What!?" Sakura shouted in alarm. Everyone jumped up in alarm. Karasu calmly ushered Hina and Sakura back to the group.

"Hina, found this…" Karasu explained and placed the photograph on the table for everyone to see.

"What the hell!?" Mondo yelled.

"Huh?" Chihiro made a sound of confusion.

"The bird had it…" Hina whispered softly, yet everyone could hear her.

"Mondo, Chihiro, what is the meaning of this?" Sakura asked through narrowed eyes.

"It seems… familiar, somehow?" Chihiro muttered to herself.

"I have no fucking idea! I think I woulda remembered taking a pic with that son of a bitch!" Mondo ranted angrily at the accusation.

Toko snarled, "Like we are supposed to b-believe that! Now spill! When and where did you meet Leon and Chihiro!"

"I didn't, I just met the dude here at Hope's Peak!" Mondo shouted furiously.

"Stop," Kyoko commanded firmly, "This photo might just be Monokuma's way of turning us against each other. We have no reason to believe that this image is genuine."

"We also don't have a reason to believe that it's fake either. Maybe…" Kasura hesitated.

"Spit it out!" Mondo demanded.

"Maybe… we are just forgetting something?" Karasu said gently. Obviously, Karasu wasn't the only one who has amnesia. This suggestion was met by huge protest all around the room. It seemed like the others did not share her sentiments. Once again, Kyoko's voice cut through the upset chatter.

"Honestly, I think that bird was acting strangely."

"Oh, how so?" Celeste asked pleasantly.

"At first the bird acted like it knew the glass was there but then later it crashed into it. And almost immediately after it left, it returned with the photo. And I don't see any bird droppings anywhere. There's something up with that bird." Kyoko finished.

"Are you sure you are not mistaken?" Celeste asked skeptically, but just by looking deep into her eyes Karasu knew she was unsettled as well. By both the bird's-her-behavior and by the photo.

"I've learned to trust my instincts and if my instincts says there is something up with that bird...I investigate until I find the truth. Simple as that," Kyoko stated, "May I hold onto the photo?"

"I see nothing wrong with that," Sakura agreed, looking pensive.

' _Crap… Kyoko's onto me… And this didn't go as I hoped either… In fact, I think I made things worse… Is that why Monokuma let me go… Because he knew I would fail...'_  Karasu thought as she made a face. She heard footsteps coming from the kitchen and turned to find Hifumi carrying a tray come closer as the gentle aroma of tea grew nearer.

"Thank you for waiting!" Hifumi announced as he approached Celeste. ' _Hifumi, she's playing you like a fiddle,'_  Karasu sighed and shook her head at the thought. It was true; She knew manipulation when she saw it. In fact, she dared to say she can be fairly manipulative herself if she needed to be.

"Hmhmhm. Finally…" Celeste sighed happily.

"You c-could've made some for the r-rest of us, you know…" Toko commented. Was that her way of asking for a cup?

"I emphatically decline! You're not my type at all!" Hifumi declined energetically, "Hmhm...It's all about the law of causality, basic instinct, act and react!"

Toko growled angrily.

"Well then, if you don't mind…" Celeste "asked" as she smiled and held the cup delicately.

"...Wait," Celeste said as she tilted her head to the side, analyzing the contents. Evidently, she didn't like what she saw because she threw the cup as hard as she could at the wall.

The sound of breaking china echoed around the room. Karasu flinched.

_The sound of breaking china echoed around the room. "You bitch!" a woman shrieked and grabbed a fist full of her unruly hair, "That was my mother's china! Are you incapable of doing anything right?"_

" _I just couldn't reach that high Aunt Petunia," she said softly in hopes of warded off the coming storm. Her efforts were in vain; her family hated her for as long as she remembered. Aunt Petunia dragged her by the hair and threw her into the cupboard, locking her in._

" _No meals for a week!" she screeched and left Karasu alone in the dark to cry all alone._

"I HATE this kind of tea!" Celeste snarled.

"U-Umm...I don't understand…" Hifumi mumbled in confusion.

"Imagine we are at a coffee shop-just any normal, everyday cafe. I sit down, and I order some tea. They then ask me, 'Would you like lemon or milk?' Now, further imagine that I replied, 'Ah, yes, I would like milk tea, please' In this case, along with my tea they may bring me a small container of milk, yes?" Celeste walked everyone through her line of thinking, "But this is not for me! I am among those who prefer the milk to be part of the process from the outset! The fragrance is just so overwhelmingly sweet that way...Adding milk or lemon right before you drink is like dousing your fries in ketchup-mere condiments! Whenever looking for a cafe, I first review their menu to see if it offers the proper style of milk tea. And I cannot acknowledge any 'milk tea' that does not add the milk during the brewing process!"

' _I… I don't know what to say… How do I respond to this!?'_ Karasu asked herself, shocked.

"Umm… I went to all that trouble to make you that tea… and you wanted me to go even farther?" Hifumi asked, bewildered.

"Yes, I realize it can be a bit of a hassle… Even in cafes that offer proper milk tea, it is always more expensive than simple tea with milk. It takes more time to prepare, surely, but… why even bother creating a menu if you are not going to offer the highest level of quality!?" Celeste argued.

"Well, um… we don't actually have a menu…" Hifumi pointed out dumbly.

"That does not matter. Hurry up and bring me what I asked for, swine!" Celeste shouted angrily. Meanwhile, Karasu's hands were shaking violently.

"WHAAAAAT!?" Hifumi shrieked, "O-Okay! Your little piggy will bring it right out!"

"Hmhm. I do so love coercion," Celeste said pleasantly, as if nothing had happened.

"You were like...a totally different person just now," Hina exclaimed.

"Yeah, shit… you really went psycho there," Mondo growled quieter than usual.

"Hmhmhm…" Celeste chuckled good-naturedly. ' _Why am I shaking so much? Celeste isn't like her!'_ Karasu folded her arms and gripped them tightly. At that moment, Taka burst through the door.

"Bad news, everyone! There is a mystery afoot!" Taka announced.

"Huh? What happened?" Hiro asked. ' _This is about Byakuya, isn't it?'_ Karasu wondered idly.

"It would seem Byakuya refuses to leave his room!" Taka explained, "I stood there pressing his doorbell over and over, but he never showed himself."

' _Called it!'_  Karasu cheered silently; in near hysterics.

"Maybe he just… wasn't there," Makoto proposed.

"I'd like to think so. But I'm worried something might have happened to him," Taka said fretfully.

"Pfft…" Karasu couldn't hold it back anymore. She laughed like a madwoman. Everyone took a step back in alarm.

"Karasu!" Hina exclaimed in alarm, "You didn't…"

"No… I… Didn't…" Karasu managed to say between fits of laughter, "It… Just… Funny… The Ultimate Affluent Progeny… Murdered? Ha! Please… No more..." She sobbed.

"I-It might be a good idea if we all split up and go look for him," Makoto said. He looked worried, but had no idea how to comfort her.

"Ah! I was just about to suggest the same thing!" Taka announced.

"Stop trying to one-up e-everyone…" Toko muttered rudely.

"Okay, then I'll go check his room one more time. I'm just gonna keep on hammering that button til I get a response!" Hina volunteered.

"Very well, then the rest of us can go check the rest of the building," Sakura stated the obvious.

"Yeah. Before it's, y'know… too late," Hiro murmured nervously.

Not to long after that everyone scattered throughout the building; Celeste stayed in the cafeteria, waiting for Hifumi to return with her "proper milk tea". Hina should be by Byakuya's door. Byakuya should still be in the library.

Karasu sat there crying for… hours? Minutes? She didn't know. All she knew was that she was startled out of her pity party by Makoto's surprised shout of, "Byakuya!?"

Karasu just let her feet carry her up to the second floor and into the library. She found Byakuya sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee, reading "The Potters' Mysterious Demise."

"Hey, uh… what are you doing?" Makoto asked.

"I'm fishing. What does it look like I'm doing?" Byakuya snarked back, "I'm trying to read. So if you could be quiet…"

"Oh...sorry," Makoto apologized, "Wait, no-What are you doing here? Everyone's super worried! We've all been looking for you!"

"Who asked you to do that?" Byakuya asked.

"B-Because… we're all supposed to meet up in the morning and eat together. We made a promise!" Makoto explained.

"A promise…?" Byakuya muttered then sighed, "Can't I get a second's peace and quiet around here?"

He snapped his book shut, and slowly stood up, like a shadow. Meanwhile, everyone else hurried over and swarmed Byakuya like a moth to a flame.

"Byakuya! So this is where you've been hiding!" Taka shouted.

"The heck are you doin' here, man?" Hiro asked.

"We were very concerned…" Sakura said simply, looking relieved.

"Well you had no reason to be. I was just reading," Byakuya said simply, "I've never read such a… coarse novel before, but it might just prove useful at some point."

"Wh-What were you reading?" Hina asked curiously.

"A mystery novel," Byakuya replied, "This one is based on a real mystery that even the best detectives couldn't solve."

"W-Wait, so are you gonna use what you're learning in there to betray us!?" Hifumi asked nervously.

"Don't be stupid," Byakuya stated rudely.

"Yeah!" Makoto cheered happily.

"It's just something to keep in mind," Byakuya said while smirking.

"Yea-what?" Makoto cheered/asked.

"If I decide to fight, of course I'll come up with something original," Byakuya promised, "Otherwise, this game of ours will be totally boring, right? It's not often you get to take part in such a high-stakes, high-tension activity. So if you're going to do it, you have to make sure it's entertaining. Mhmhmhm..."

Byakuya stood there smiling, like he was enjoying himself; enjoying this 'killing game'.

What the fuck do you mean, "game"!? That's fucked up!" Mondo yelled.

"But it *is* a game," Byakuya said mockingly, like he was talking to an infant, "It's a game of life or death, which can only have one winner. That's all there is to it."

"He is right. It's a zero-sum game," Celeste agreed.

"Huh?" Makoto grunted in confusion.

"It is a part of game theory, a mathematical model," Celeste began to explain, "In game theory, what we are going through now is called a 'zero-sum game.' In this type of game, in order for one person to gain something, another must lose something. In other words, it is a situation in which participants must compete for position or resources."

"You mean like… a kind of elimination match," Sakura stated in understanding.

"Entrance exams, sports tournaments, job openings-most social interactions fall into this category. Everyone must scramble to obtain something which is limited. For you to succeed, someone else must fail," Celeste provided some more examples, "This also applies to the school life we have been subjected to here. In this case...our 'limited resource' is that only one of us can successfully become the blackened."

"Hey, Monokuma, what if two people successfully kill someone. Theoretically, we would have to determine the blackened for each murder. But if we were to guess incorrectly about 'whodunit', then no one will graduate," Karasu asked, "What countermeasure do you have?"

"Should that occur I will prevent a second 'blackened' from committing the crime!" Monokuma said from behind Hiro, who jumped in fright, "I add that to the regulations right now!"

The bear vanished and everyone's notebook chimed.

_Regulation 9: The ending of digital notebooks is prohibited._

_Regulation 10: Only one blackened can be tried at one time. Monokuma may prevent additional blackened for appearing._

"Basically, this game was designed from the beginning to force one of us to try and defeat all the others," Byakuya summarized.

"Th-That...that can't be what they had in mind!" Makoto cried out in denial.

"This is why adaptation is so crucial," Celeste explained, "If those who want to escape were to disappear, there would be no reason to continue playing the game."

"But why would I want to stop playing? It's so much fun…" Byakuya asked mockingly with a cruel smile.

"It sounds as if you do not acknowledge even the possibility that you may lose, am I right?"

"Of course."

"You do not speak like the others. Exactly what I would expect from the Togami heir apparent."

"...It's just normal arrogance, isn't it?" Hiro asked dumbly.

"You talk like that, but what if you end up dead!?" Hina shouted challengingly.

"I won't. It simply isn't possible," Byakuya stated simply, almost arrogantly.

"Who the fuck do you think you are!?" Mondo demanded angrily.

"You know, I still just can't believe it…" Byakuya said.

"Believe what!?" Mondo asked, cracking his knuckles.

"That an uneducated, brain-dead, useless piece of garbage like you has survived this long."

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill you!"

"Like I said. I won't die."

"You keep saying that, but-" Hiro tried intervene before things get bloody.

"Do not bother argueing with him. For him, the concept of losing simply does not exist. He is the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, after all-a boy raised to succeed from the day he was born," Celeste cut in, "He considers victory his destiny, and has lived his life accordingly. Tests and challenges are merely ways for him to stand victorious. Even if it is a life-and-death situation… Is that not so, Byakuya?"

"At least one of you seems to understand," Byakuya… praised?

"It is because I am the same as you. Games are meant to be won," Celeste pressed on.

"Are you trying to suggest we're on the same level? Close that vulgar mouth of yours," Byakuya snapped.

"Well, well. I do apologize," Celeste backed down, her point made.

"Anyway, let me just say this to all of you. You all need to try harder. If an opponent isn't going to give it their best, where's the fun for me?" Byakuya asked.

"We don't exist just to keep you entertained," Karasu snarked, giving Byakuya a taste of his own medicine.

"That may be true… but you succeed anyway," Byakuya countered. Karasu bowed mockingly, a knowing look on her face the irked Byakuya to no end.

"Th-That's a terrible way to look at it…" Chihiro said, nearly in tears.

"Hmm?" Byakuya grunted.

"This… isn't a game. Our lives are on the line, you know…" Chihiro complained, "To kill your own friends is...is… It's horrific!"

"Friends? Who decided that?" Byakuya asked. Chihiro made a sound of confusion. "We're not friends. No, quite the opposite. We're in competition-we're enemies."

"B-But...you know…" Chihiro tried to stand up for herself.

"But what? Stop trying to force your contradictions on me and just accept what I'm telling you," Byakuya demanded, annoyed.

"U-Um…"

"Yes? If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, keep your mouth closed."

"... I-I'm sorry…"

"Hey, shithead! You get off on bullying people that can't fight back? You wanna try that on me!?" Mondo yelled.

"So, you're back to pretending to be friends, huh? And how long do you think that;s going to last?" Byakuya challenged.

"Fuck you!" Mondo cursed.

"Is that all you can say?" Byakuya mocked, "It's unfortunate you would waste your breath on such empty gibberish."

"That's it! You're fuckin' dead!" Mondo shouted, tired of dealing with the arrogant boy.

"H-Hold on! Just calm down!" Hina shouted as she got in between Mondo and Byakuya.

"You should get better control over your temper. You might find yourself doing something you'd regret otherwise," Karasu advised.

"Like your one to talk!" Mondo shouted back, "And, I AM calm!"

"How is *this* 'calm'!?" Hina demanded.

"Anyway… I don't have any intention of working with the rest of you any longer," Byakuya began, "To cooperate during an elimination game is… Well, frankly, it's a waste of time. And I hate wasting my time."

"Waste of time…?" Makoto asked.

"Engaging in 'friendly' group meals is out of the question. Someone could easily poison our food. And I'd rather not become part of the Last Supper just yet," Byakuya commented.

"Quit talking like you're in a fuckin' movie or something!" Mondo growled.

"All I'm saying is that, ultimately, you are all free to do whatever you want on your own. Good-" Byakuya was about to leave when he was cut of by Karasu's shout of, "Are you sure cooperating is a waste of time."

"Of course it is, why wouldn't it be!?" Byakuya spun around irritably.

"I mean, such a lowly commoner such as myself wouldn't know the first thing about zero-sum games but… wouldn't TIME be a limited resource as well? Wouldn't refusing to cooperate with other actually be counterproductive?" Karasu asked, "When working together, we can search the entire school in less than a day. But of course, you're welcome to spend who-knows-how-long searching the school be yourself."

"I-" Byakuya began, only to be cut off by Karasu yet again, who raised her voice.

"I mean surely you can ask us later about our search but then again, I could withhold some tidbit of information," Karasu threatened, "I am not above such petty things. I'm certain you realize how… dangerous… being uninformed can be. The name Leon comes to mind. While Mr. Byakuya Togami may be confident in his chances, us commoners aren't-that is why we promised to meet up each morning for breakfast, after all."

"What are you getting at?" Byakuya asked cooly, eyes flashing dangerously. Karasu smirked inwardly.

"I certain that Mr. Byakuya Togami can solve any murder mystery even if the killer destroyed some evidence-I never doubted that-but I can't help but wonder if I could do such a thing. It sounds soooo~ hard! And if we aren't convinced, well, Mr. Byakuya is only one vote… need I say more?" Karasu continued, "Anyhoo, I'm certain Mr. Byakuya has thought of this already… Oh dear, it looks like I wasted Mr. Byakuya's time-he hates wasting time-So sorry!"

She had an insane glint in her eyes as she stormed up to Byakuya.

"So-"

She opened the library door.

"Scoot-"

She grabbed Byakuya by the wrist and dragged him out of the library.

"Along!"

She slammed the door on his bewildered face; she braced her body against the door.

Byakuya pounded on the door. "We are not done here-"

"Tra la la la~, I can't hear you! Tra la la la~" Karasu sang.

Byakuya screamed in frustration and stormed off.

"Was he serious about all that…?" Hiro asked.

"He was, without a doubt," Celeste affirmed, but she looked pensive.

"We will find out tomorrow~!" Karasu sang as she clapped her hands together excitedly, looking quite pleased with herself.

After the rather eventful morning, Karasu and the others went their separate ways. She was wandering around the second floor, checking the areas she hadn't had time to search earlier. She didn't miss much, just the archive, pool, and two classrooms.

Checking to see if the coast was clear, she turned into her bird form and slid between the grates and flew up to the third floor. She swiftly navigated the third floor until she found the stairwell to the fourth floor. She slipped past.

Karasu began her investigation of the fourth floor on human feet. ' _No reason to check the windows… It's likely that a fall from this height will injure or worse, kill… knowing Monokuma, he probably has guards outside to prevent escape so if you aren't dead but injured you're as good as dead…'_ Karasu paused mid mental analysis, " _...But I could probably easily escape…'_

Suddenly, she felt alone. Alone is this great big world. She had no idea where she belonged, what she has lost, and if she even still had friends outside.

' _...All I know is what happening here and now, and I'm not about to abandon my friends in this hellhole!'_ Karasu promised herself. She made a right and stopped by the first door she came across.

*Rattle rattle*

It was locked so she moved on to the two classrooms. There was nothing that stood out to her; she made her way to another room-this one was nearby the fifth floor stairwell. It appear to be some sort of potions lab-where did that come from? It's obviously a chemistry lab. It stocked full of dietary supplements, reagents, and poisons.

' _No use worrying about it now… no one but me has access to it right now…'_

Karasu turned around swiftly and walked out of the room. She turned left-away from the stairwell to the fifth floor-and then turned right. She entered the room full of desks with flowers in vases on them.

' _All of the teachers are dead… aren't they. That's why the flowers are there, isn't it,'_ Karasu thought. She had no way to confirm this but somehow, she knew it must be true. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another photograph laying on the floor.

It was another one of those strange photos with one of her deceased classmates and two others who were still alive: Sayaka, Celeste, and Hifumi. Celeste was blushing and crying at the same time and Hifumi running away-or trying to-with a camera in his hand. Celeste hands were frozen just before she could grab hold of Hifumi's head while Sayaka laughed in the background.

' _Celeste did the same when her dress was ruined…'_ Karasu noted, ' _And Hifumi must've taken a picture of Celeste underwear in this photo…'_

She lunged,snatched up the photo, stood up, turned around, and walked briskly out the door. She felt she should keep this; But she also felt like there was no reason to share it with the others. Karasu walked purposefully towards the last room she had to check, the Principal's Office.

*Rattle rattle*

' _Of course, it's locked. It's the Principal's Office!'_ Karasu mentally chided herself. Another thought floated across her mind and her eyes widened in surprise then narrowed in suspicion.

' _If Monokuma is the principal and the Principal's Office is locked… why was that other room locked?'_ She wondered as she dashed over to the other locked door. The Data Processing Room. The most likely place the security cameras across the school provide real-time footage of their activities.

' _That,'_ Karasu thought idly, ' _must be where the mastermind is. After all, Monokuma said he watched Sayaka's murder happen in real time.'_

Karasu reached out and knocked on the door gently. Nothing happened. "I know you're in there, Mastermind."

She couldn't see what was going on behind that door, but she could rely on her other senses to fill in the gaps. She listened intently as the sound of gentle footfalls crept farther away and the soft click of a lock.

"What do ya want!?" Monokuma roared angrily from behind. Despite the fact Karasu knew he would do that; she still jumped in fright, instinctively.

"Not much really, just thought I'd say hello. Goodbye," Karasu said and shifted into her bird form and flew off towards the fifth floor. She heard Monokuma shriek in rage and mutter something about talking to him through the door. But she did learn one tidbit of useful information: the mastermind couldn't watch and control Monokuma at the same time.

She didn't remember much about the fifth floor. All she knew was that whatever she found was that whatever happened in that room was horrifying, despair-inducing, and possibly bloody. Karasu laid her back on her bed as she tried to recall the details of the fifth floor.

The was nothing unusual about the first two classrooms, dojo, and botanical garden. But there was something off about the third classroom Something she couldn't explain. So Karasu had skipped it and moved onto the Bio lab. The door was locked and cool to the touch. Karasu doubled back to the third classroom. The hair on the back of her neck prickled as slowly opened the door.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 PM."

Karasu's eyes widened. She barely stopped a scream from escaping her lips. Instead, a pitiful whimper betrayed her. She really should have expected something like this. Blood splattered all over the walls, outlines of bodies-dead bodies-it fit perfectly with the horror-movie-theme Monokuma had going.

"As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite…"

She was safe. Safe from the horrors of the fifth floor. Safe in her bed. All Karasu could remember about the fifth floor was red. Blood red. ' _Maybe I should revisit it tomorrow...the shock would have worn off by then…'_ Karasu thought, ' _But still… is it even possible to escape? The entire facility seems to designed to keep us in...or something out?'_

Karasu shook her head ruefully. It would be a waste of time thinking about it now. At this rate she could-and would-talk herself in circles. If only someone could pop up and help them all escape. Pop up…

Karasu jumped up suddenly. That was it! All she had to do was say his name and he would come running.

"Dobby!" Karasu called out into the empty room. No response. She called again, knowing it probably wasn't going to work if he didn't respond the first time.

"Dobby," Karasu called out again-softer than before.

CRACK!

"Miss Potter called! You called Dobby! Dobby thought Miss Potter had forgotten Dobby. Miss Potter hasn't called Dobby in two years!" A short creature-covered in various woolen objects, such as socks, hats, scarves, and a maroon sweater that was obviously too big for him-wailed.

"Gah!" Karasu shrieked in fright and tripped over nothing. She landed on her behind with a soft thump.

The creature-Dobby Karasu reminded herself-gasped and practically tripped over himself to help her to her feet.

"Dobby didn't mean to startle Miss Potter! Dobby didn't!" Dobby cried out, horrified.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it," Karasu said before she froze.

' _He can get me out of here! He seems to have known me before...He might know where my friends, my family are!'_ Karasu thought greedily. ' _But can I really leave my new friends to fend for themselves? Can I live with myself knowing what will become?'_

"Dobby! There are 15...12 others trapped inside this building. Can you round them up and take them somewhere safe?" Karasu asked desperately. ' _No, she couldn't just abandon them after all they had been through!'_  Karasu knelt before the creature and clasped her hands over her chest. "Please!" She cried and feeling rather silly kneeling before the creature and yet still towering over him, bent over until her forehead touched the ground.

"Waaaaah!" Dobby wailed. "Miss Potter! You are bow-"

Dobby stopped speaking abruptly. Karasu looked up, curious to see why he had held his tongue, just in time to see blood dribble down his chin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	9. Trying for Normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa. They belong to their respective owners.

Karasu's eyes widened in horror as blood dribbled down Dobby's chin, as blood soaked his sweater, as blood pooled at his feet. Blood red liquid flowed over three cool, harsh metal blades. Or metal claws.

"Upupupupu!" A familiar mechanical voice giggled maliciously as the metal disappear from Dobby's chest. The pool of blood that was forming at his feet grew even larger, faster. "Did you really think I would sit by and let my precious students get get kidnapped?"

"You can't just kill him!" Karasu shouted, rushing to Dobby's side to put pressure on the wound. It did little to stem the flow of blood.

"Actually, I can… The rules prevent me from punishing students that are following the rules. But that doesn't stop me from killing your friend here."

"Why aren't you killing me!? I broke the rules! Dobby-" Karasu started.

"You only called for help and it came here to free you. Why if I killed a student just for calling for help, everyone would be dead!" Monokuma explained cheerfully, his belly, face, and claws covered with blood splatter.

"You…" Karasu snarled as she lunged. Something pulled back on her left wrist.

"Don't… Miss Potter… You can't… die… The despair won't... stop him... forever… You're the only… one… who can… stop him…" Dobby said as his hands—his weakening hands—tugged her away from the bear.

"What?" Karasu asked turned her head to stare at Dobby out of widened eyes.

"He… who… must… not… be… named…" was the last thing he said before his grip loosened enough for Karasu's wrist to slip out of his grip. Not that she tried to escape. His empty shell hit the floor with a dull thud. His unseeing eyes stared at the wall.

"Dobby?" Karasu asked softly, hoping her eyes were deceiving her. "Dobby!" She shook him gently. His skin grew colder with each passing second. She couldn't deny it anymore. He was dead. Dead because of her.

Her eyes watered. "You feel that? The despair~! Isn't it just the best!" Monokuma exclaimed gleefully. The blood on his body only made it look like he planned to kill Karasu next. But he couldn't due to the regulations… but that did not make it any less unnerving.

"No… it's horrible! How are you so happy!? Do you enjoy watching people suffer? It's not funny! I just lost four friends in less than 24 hours! And you're just… just…" Karasu fell silent. 'Kill… kill them all…' a soft high pitched voice whispered.

"Who's there!" Karasu shouted as she jumped to her feet, ignoring Monokuma's inquisitive look. 'There's no one else here…' Karasu thought, her face turning blue.

'They dare to challenge you, so show them the errors of there ways… kill them…' the same voice repeated, louder this time. "Stay away! Don't come any closer!" Karasu shouted, spinning herself around to find the source of the voice. But no one was there-no one but Monokuma.

'It's in my head!' she realized with a jolt. "Get out get out get out get out get out getoutgetoutgetoutgetout!" Karasu chanted as she backed into a corner. Maybe if she cornered herself, she could force the voice to come at her only from one direction. Irrational, but effective. The intruder was funneled into an cleared out area of her mind. There was only one way in and out now… and this was her domain. Karasu pushed back, forcing the voice out of her head and sealing the entrance shut.

She then fainted, the emotional and mental strain proving to much for the girl.

Monokuma still stood there, analyzing the scene. "Seven!" he shrieked with laughter and turned toward the security camera. "I knew you were worth adding to the mix! It's a bit cliche though but it's so despairful!" He turned away from the camera and went about cleaning the room.

Karasu arose to the morning announcement with a sore neck and itchy eyes. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the center of the room. There was no blood, no sign of Dobby. 'Could it have just been a really bad dream?' Karasu wondered sleepily. She stretched and pushed herself to her feet, planning to wash up before meeting the others.

She froze.

On her wrist was dried blood. Dried blood shaped like a handprint. A small handprint. Dobby. Her eyes watered. She wiped her eyes with unbloodied hand. She didn't have time to wallow in pity; she made a commitment to her classmates and herself. She washed her wrist in the sink and walked to the cafeteria looking dead to the world.

"Good morn-Gah! Are you alright?" Hifumi gasped.

"Who me? I'm fine," Karasu replied with little emotion, "Just four of my friends died yesterday. That's all."

"Did you sleep alright?" Hina fussed.

"Mmph…" Karasu mumbled as she pushed past Hina and shuffled into the kitchen. A few minutes later, she walked back out with bowl of salad. She sat down at the table. "Oh, hi Byakuya…" Karasu said with a mouth full of food. Byakuya looked at her like just her presence was an insult.

"I don't know why I bother with you plebeians…" Karasu heard Byakuya grumble under his breath. Toko was just about as thrilled as Byakuya was. Karasu was still eating when everyone else had finished their meal.

"So what are we doing today?" Sakura inquired.

"We will be doing various bonding activities." Karasu said like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"We will be doing various bonding activities!" Taka shouted with stars in his eyes. Karasu nodded enthusiastically; her eyes discreetly flickered to Byakuya's frame. There was nothing quite like pushing Byakuya's button to cheer her up. Dobby wouldn't want her moping around… he gave her a mission. To stop He-who-must-not-be-named! Whoever that is!

"Don't encourage him!" Toko shrieked.

"What kind of… activities?" Hifumi panted heavily.

"Not whatever you're thinking!" Hina shouted angrily.

"Now is not the time to be fuckin' around!" Mondo yelled in the typical Mondo-fashion-loudly and angrily.

"Why not? All work and no play makes you a very dull person…" Karasu said matter-of-factly. Her voice held an unusual steely tone, like knives on a chalkboard.

"I agree. It would do some good to let off some steam. You look like you need it the most Mondo," Celeste stated daintily.

"Fuck that!" Mondo yelled, disagreeing… while unintentionally proving Celeste's point.

"I quite agree! But don't go crazy like someone at sports day or whatever!" Taka proclaimed.

"I don't care what you buffoons do, just leave me out of it," Byakuya snarked and glided out of the cafeteria.

"Welp, I guess we should be happy he came to meet with us this morning," Karasu sigh.

"YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET HIM WALK OUT?!" Mondo demanded angrily, his vein on his temple pulsed.

Karasu just tilted her head to the side—in a bird-like manner. "Well, yeah?" She asked cautiously, "It would be asking too much of him to participate in everything we do. He's not used to that. Baby steps, Mondo, baby steps."

Mondo, despite how enraged he looked, wasn't incapable of understanding logical reasoning at that point. So he backed off, albeit reluctantly and grudgingly. Taka however wasn't as convinced.

"But…" Taka began.

"Taka, I know this must be hard for you, but sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to leave them alone. It's knowing when that is best is the hard part. Everyone is different. So it would make sense that you would have to guide each one differently, yes?" Karasu reasoned softly. They made eye contact for the second time since this murderous game began. He felt like it was his responsibility to protect everyone. He failed Sayaka, Junko, and Leon. He wasn't going to fail anyone else. "You don't need to shoulder that responsibility yourself."

"I understand…" Taka expression softened and he seemed lighter. Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulder.

"Alright then, I'll shall you later then," Karasu said as she started to walk away.

"Wha? You're not going to participate?!" Mondo demanded.

"No. I'd like to keep an eye on Byakuya. I want to make sure he really is okay. He is human after all. He can be difficult to read," Karasu said as she exited the cafeteria.

She sprinted down to the school and through the hallways until she slowed to a walk before the library. She pushed the door open. Byakuya was seated where he was yesterday, in a chair by the desk in the middle of the room. He had a lamp plugged into an extension cord. He made no move to acknowledge her presence. But Karasu knew he was hyper aware of her presence. She had painted a target on her back when she blackmailed him yesterday. As rude and egotistical as he was, he had acknowledged her opinion, her intelligence.

She walked past him, paying him no mind and settled herself in another desk—she swore it had a laptop on it yesterday. This desk also held the magic books on display. If she wasn't allowed to have a spellbook, she would learn what she could about magic. Maybe this would help her recover her memories.

Byakuya made a face but decided that Karasu's antics weren't worth his time. So he said nothing. Karasu wasn't really expecting him to in the first place. She skimmed through the magical creatures book. It was in extraordinarily good condition; it must have been centuries old since instead of paper, there was parchment.

Acromantula. Driving a wild car through a forest, away from gigantic spiders. Basilisk. Stabbing a giant snake through its head with a sword. Boggarts. A talled, gliding hooded figure with slimy, greyish, scabbed hands. Centaur. Riding through a forest towards a giants man with Ron, a nervous looking boy, and a boy with white-blonde hair. Dragons. Flying on a broom around a nesting dragon covered in spikes. Ghosts. A transparent figure with their head attached to their body by only an inch of skin. Giants. A giant man with beetle black eyes and a beard that covered most of his face. Goblins. A bank. House-elves. . .Dobby.

Karasu felt a flash of hot-blooded anger flood through her veins. How dare they label Dobby as a creature. He was an intelligent being capable of thoughts, ideas, and emotions. And they dare call him a creature?

The flash of anger was gone as quickly as it appeared. Dobby. . .he just appeared right next to her, didn't he? Maybe she could do that to! She would have to test that later—it would be rather difficult to explain to Byakuya why she was dancing around the room.

She flipped through a few more pages. Unicorn. A bright white coat and mane belonging to a beautiful creature lay unmoving on the forest floor. A hooded figure bent over it, with silvery blood streaming from his mouth. Werewolf. A teacher convulsing under the light of a full moon.

She remembered bits and pieces from her past, but none of it made much sense. 'I expected magic, something that defies the laws of nature to make sense.' Karasu deadpanned internally, annoyed.

She pushed the book aside and reached for the next book atop the pile when something caught her eye. A book on the bottom of the stack had bookmarks in it. Karasu carefully removed the book from the pile. She opened Secrets of the Darkest Arts to the first bookmark.

Cursed Scars. She read through the page carefully—if someone went to the trouble of bookmarking the page, it must be important somehow. A cursed scar was caused by remnants of dark magic trapped within the wound, preventing it from healing properly until it has been removed. The rest of the two pages were devoted to famous witches and wizards with cursed scars. She turned to the second bookmark.

Horcruxes—it was underlined twice. It describes an object that holds a fraction of its creators soul by committing murder and feeling absolutely no remorse, making them immortal as long as the Horcrux was intact. . . there was more to making a horcrux but Karasu couldn't quite make sense of it. And not only that, the only way to destroy a horcrux was to put it beyond magical repair. She read on feeling sick to her stomach. The soul could also be repaired by feeling remorse for the murder. She was about to flip the page when a handwritten notes in the margin caught her attention.

Diary

Ring

Diadem

Cup

Locket

Nagini

Methods to Destroy Horcruxes

Basilisk venom(success)

Fiendfyre?(too risky)

Vanishing?(failure: spell did not take hold.)

Killing Curse(?)

The first list might be a list of known horcruxes—oh dear Merlin, someone killed seven people to become immortal. Karasu gagged and covered her mouth. . . she felt like she was going to puke.

"Why are you making a racket? Some of us are trying to read." Byakuya was suddenly peering over her shoulder—scanning the page.

He closed the book to read the title, "I didn't take you as the type to even touch books as dark as these, trash or not."

Karasu swallowed back the urge to vomit, "There were bookmarks in that book and it caught my attention. I don't think the mastermind would leave these out without a reason…" Karasu trailed off hesitantly.

"While your logic is sound, the mastermind also seems to be the type to make false trails." Byakuya explained, "Hence why I didn't bother reading them from cover to cover."

He flipped open the book to the first page. "All of these books belong to someone called Raven Potter." He showed her the page as proof.

"You think she's the mastermind?" Karasu asked.

"Yes…" Byakuya was eyeing her with a distrustful look now.

"What?" Karasu asked.

"Nothing," Byakuya said coldly. Something was definitely up. She made eye contact with him. 'Raven, Karasu*. . . is it truly just a coincidence. . .?'

'He thinks I'm the mastermind!?' Karasu thought, horrified, 'would I even know if I'm the mastermind? I've got magic, after all. For all I know, I could be.'

"It would be a mistake to assume the mastermind is male. For all we know, the bear's voice is masculine just so we'd make that assumption." Karasu explained cautiously. She was in hot water now. One misplaced word and Byakuya might separate himself from the group again—she got the impression that Toko would follow his lead.

He nodded, still on guard. Now or never. It was make it or break it.

"Could you show me the book you were talking about the other day? The one about the Potter's?" Karasu asked calmly.

Whatever Byakuya was expecting, that wasn't it. He was visibly taken aback.

"Now why would I do that?" Byakuya said, narrowing his eyes. He was obviously intrigued.

"Because when I woke up, I couldn't remember anything. I don't even know if Karasu Kanashimi is my real name. I don't even know what my talent is! What if it's just the name the mastermind gave me when they wiped my memories? And the name Potter sounds so familiar…" Karasu trailed off, ashamed. She said too much. She had sounded desperate. She had shown weakness. She lowered her gaze to the ground, fearing Byakuya's response.

"..." He wasn't saying anything. Was he giving her the silent treatment now? "So that's why you suggested mass amnesia."

It wasn't a question. "Yes, if the mastermind wiped my memories, then they are capable of wiping all of our memories. But everyone else remembers what happened before this… so that could mean that they could also control which memories are removed…" Karasu explained.

"But your amnesia could also be a result of a head injury," Byakuya pointed out.

"It's not."

"Pardon?"

"It's not due to a head injury."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because that's what my instincts are telling me."

Byakuya sighed in disappointment.

"Hey!" Karasu gasped, scandalized, "My instincts are probably the only reason why I have survived this long!"

"This killing game requires logical thinking to stay alive and you're just following your instincts?" He looked disgusted, disappointed.

"Well if you aren't going to help me I guess I'll just look around myself." Karasu snarled,whirled around, and stormed over to the nearest bookshelf, effectively killing the conversation.

'That… bastard! That son of a bloody hag! How dare he!? I gave him some tidbits of personal information and he just withholds what he knows… does he even trust anyone? I don't need his help… and he is reading the book I'm looking for… Damn it! Isn't trusting someone the first step to being trusted?' Karasu fumed, absolutely furious. She felt the room temperature spike suddenly. She paid it no mind. She marched straight of to the archives and slammed the door behind her.

In her temper she never noticed that the case file for the Potter's death flew into her hand. All she knew was that she had grabbed something and planted her behind on the ground as she began to read.

The Potter's Death

On Halloween of 20XX, the Potter's were found dead in their home by the mailman the following morning. James Potter was found in the living room while his wife was found in the nursery. There was obvious signs of a struggle but no sign of forced entry, leading the police to believe that the Potters' death were murders. And that the Potter's invited the murderer into their home. Their daughter, Raven Potter was not found at the scene. It appears as if the murder took the toddler and place her on the doorstep of her Aunt and Uncle's under the cover of night.

The number one suspect in this case is Sirius Black, Raven's Godfather. He was confronted by Peter Pettigrew in London where a gas explosion occurred. Killing Peter and 12 others. Sirius Black was arrested on site. There is no record of a trial or which prison he was sent to. Foul play is also suspected due to Peter Pettigrew's finger—the only bit left of him—was cleanly cut, but no object capable of such a thing was found at the scene.

Once the reports on the Potter's remains came back, the case was turned upside down. There was no cause of death and the bodies were in perfect health besides the fact that they were dead. This case remains cold to this day.

Suppressing the intense urge to bang her head against the wall in frustration and second-hand embarrassment, Karasu closed the file and put it back on a random spot on the shelf. The name Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew sounded familiar—she felt a flash of anger as she read that… rat's name. There wasn't any other explanation. This case, this cold case, concerned her parents. 'I bet that He-who-must-not-be-named is the killer. Just how did he kill them? Some sort of instant death spell? Does that even exist?'

She reached into her bag to pull out her digital notebook, her fingers brush past smooth metal, then a scratch, then smooth metal again. 'Wait' Karasu thought as she whipped it out of her bag and ran her fingers over the surface. 'There!' she thought as she observed a strange marking on her digital notebook.

It was obvious carved into the metal on purpose, given it definite shape. It was located right next to the power button and appeared to be a hieroglyph of some sort. When she pressed her finger to it, it hummed with magic. 'Maybe I am the mastermind. . . I'm the only one who knows about magic after all…' Karasu thought but that felt wrong, 'I can't be the mastermind! That what my instincts are telling me, so then who else knows about magic?'

Sirius Black. Peter Pettigrew. The white-haired boy. Ron. The giant. He-who-must-not-be-named. Aunt. Uncle. They all knew about magic right? It could be any of them. But she also got the feeling that they were all innocent. How did the mastermind learn about magic?

She shook her head. That wasn't important now. It was nearly time for dinner-according to her digital notebook. Karasu stomach growled. The corners of Karasu's lips twitch upwards into a smile. 'I suppose I did miss lunch…'

"How is everyone-" Karasu asked before she stopped abruptly, feeling the gloomy atmosphere. "I take it didn't go well…"

"If I hear one more thing about politics I am going to scream," Hina whined.

"Politics is an important topic that should be discussed!" Taka shouted at Hina.

"I was hoping we would do something active. . . there is a perfectly good pool upstairs… "

"Not everyone enjoys swimming as much a you do, Hina," Sakura pointed out.

"I know," she whined, "maybe we could have played volleyball…"

"Oooooookay then, so that failed," Karasu immediately changed the topic before it could shift to her and Byakuya… well tried to.

"So I take it that Byakuya won't be joining us?" Kyoko asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't join us. It could have gone better," Karasu trailed off.

"What happened?" Makoto asked, both curious and concerned.

"I decided to read those magic books Byakuya mentioned earlier and one of them is… really really really dark and… long story short, we had a disagreement…" Karasu explained. Kyoko's eyes shined for a moment behind her mask before it was expertly hidden.

"Why would you read something like that!? The occult is bullcrap!" Hiro shrieked, scandalized.

Karasu expression grew mistified. "You, the Ultimate Clairvoyant, are telling me that the occult is bullcrap… isn't fortune telling considered part of the occult?"

"Fortune telling isn't part of the occult!"

'Is he—unknowingly—saying my existence is bullcrap!' Karasu thought incredulously, 'Best not to try to wrap my head around it.'

"Taka, you tried to discuss politics with everyone?" Karasu asked.

"Yes, Mam!" Taka affirmed.

"Why not something, like, normal?" Karasu asked as she tilted her head in a way that reminded everyone in the room of the elusive bird living within Hope's Peak.

"Yeah, way not something about tv shows or video games?" Makoto asked.

"Why would you waste your on those meaningless tasks?" Taka turned on Makoto and lectured him.

"It's can be useful! It can give you something to talk about with others!" Makoto defended his point.

"Something to talk about?" Taka asked slowly.

"Like when you see something awesome on TV, or some awesome game, and you want to share it with someone, "Makoto went on, You find other people who feel the same way, and thatś how you make friends. See?"

"Wh. . .? Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh—!?" Taka gaped openly, his eyes wide, "I once was blind, but now I see!"

"What the heck!" Makoto shouted in alarm. He wasn't the only one taken aback—Karasu jumped back, her metaphorical feathers ruffled.

"That kind of thing has plagued me for years… I've tried making friends, but whenever I would make a conversation, it would die after a few minutes…" Taka explained as he cried openly.

"C-Can't imagine why," Toko quipped. The atmosphere seemed lighter now to Karasu.

'I have never seen so much liquid come out of someone's face. . . well ever!' Karasu thought in awe.

"And now… I've finally found the answer… I need to study more games! More TV shows!" Taka announced.

"N-No, you don't need to 'study' them…" Makoto began.

"Ahh, I'm so ashamed of myself! If there was a hole somewhere around here, I'd totally go hide in it! I let it get to me, I wasted all that time… I never saw the blind spot in my studies!" Taka exclaimed, "I'm a complete embarrassment! I'm not qualified to even be on the morals committee, let alone lead it!"

"I-I don't think it's really that big of a deal…" Makoto trailed off.

"Thank you, Professor Makoto!" Taka bowed deeply.

"Professor!?" Makoto shouted, shocked.

"You've taught me a valuable lesson! You've earned my respect, and the title of professor!"

"Th-That's going to make things super awkward…!" Makoto pointed out.

"Hahaha! There's no need to be modest, Professor! I can't wait for your next lesson! And until then, I will strive to learn as much as I can on my own!" Taka announced brightly.

"What about me!? I taught you a valuable lesson, didn't I!" Karasu asked desperately.

"You did?" Taka asked confused. Karasu visibly drooped when she heard that, tears running down her face.

Everyone laughed at Karasu's expense and the air became playful and carefree. Monokuma showed up to try and disrupt the pleasantries, but Karasu was having none of that.

"Gah!" Monokuma shrieked, "Violence against Principal Monokuma is strictly forbidden! How many times must I repeat myself!"

Monokuma went inert and started beeping—just like he did on their first day here.

"I'm not attacking you, honest! Haven't you ever had a hug before?" Karasu whined. And despite knowing that Monokuma was about to self-destruct, Karasu continued to hold Monokuma in her arms. "And why are you so heavy!?"

". . . ," Monokuma remained silent for a few moments, ". . .Crap. . ."

"Wait, you can't stop yourself from blowing up!" Karasu shouted in alarm.

"Throw me, throw me, throw me!" Monokuma had worked himself into a proper panic. . . along with most of the other people in the room. Luckily, Sakura had enough sense to snatch Monokuma from Karasu and hurl him across the room. Kyoko tipped over the long table they had been sitting at—knocking their empty dishes to the floor—and ordered everyone to take cover.

Monkuma exploded and tables and chairs were either destroyed or sent flying across the room. Thankfully, there were no injuries thanks to their makeshift barricade.

Byakuya burst into the room.

"What happened!? I heard an explosion. . ." Byakuya was cut off by his Digital Notebook chiming. His wasn't the only one that chimed, everyone's handbook chimed, notify everyone of the latest update in school regulations.

"Students are strictly forbidden from physically restricting Monokuma's moments," everyone's handbooks read.

". . .What did Karasu do this time?" Byakuya deadpanned.

"WHY DID YOU JUST ASSUME I DID SOMETHING!?" Karasu demanded, scandalized.

"She picked up Monokuma while she hugged him," Kyoko explained.

"KYOKO, HOW COULD YOU!?"

"Ah," Byakuya made a sound of acknowledgement before he turned sharply and walked away briskly—presumably to his room.

"I think that's enough excitement for one day," Celeste said as she stood up, brushed off her skirt, and followed Byakuya's lead.

Slowly, after a slight delany, everyone else followed. They had been forced to clean up the mess in the cafeteria—at Taka's insistence.

While Karasu was heading back to her room for the night, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a large, silvery figure. But when she turned around to get a better look, it was gone.

She shook her head. She had to be seeing things. There is just no way a stag could be living within the school; let alone a silver one. Karasu sighed tiredly and resumed her journey to the portal to the land of dreams. Karasu fell fast asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and a comment! I love hearing what my readers have to say!


	10. PREVIEW!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This is not profit and I do not own Harry Potter or Danganronpa (games, animes, or mangas). They belong to their respective owners. Some or Most of the lines of the Danganronpa characters were taken or based on lines in Danganronpa Animation English Dub, Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc, or the Harry Potter movies.

 

_Karasu stood face to face with the minister after her little disappearing act. After a brief lecture about wandering off on her own, she finally got a word in._

" _So I take it I'm not expelled from -?" Karasu asked—she already knew the answer as she had taken a glimpse into his mind._

" _No, no, of course not. We don't throw people into Azkaban for blowing up their aunts," the minister chuckled at his own joke. Karasu merely sighed in relief to keep up her act._

_After she was subjected to a very one-sided conversation, she was finally allowed to go to her new dwelling: a room at the Leaky Cauldron._

" _Hedwig!" Karasu greeted a beautiful snowy white owl with eyes that shown with intelligence. This was greatly appreciated at the -'-; she often felt like even a brief interaction with her relations deceased her intelligence. They can be so stupid and irrational upon occasion_ — _actually_ — _most of the time._

" _Who does that man think he is? He's not suited for a position of power, he has been taking bribes from the Malfoys. The. Malfoys. Can't he see past their facade. . . nevermind he can't. He couldn't even see through mine," Karasu ranted after she casted a quick privacy spell._

_Hedwig merely hooted then began to straighten out her feathers; Karasu, meanwhile, was deep in thought._

" _Hedwig, can I ask for your opinion?" Karasu asked. Hedwig hooted curiously._

" _I'm going to need a dark magic book if I am going to figure out how Voldemort is still alive. Don't give me that look, he obviously not a ghost, he wouldn't be able to possess Quirrell. Voldemort was-is a Dark Lord, so if I'm going to figure out his methods I'll need a bit of background information."_

_Hedwig only gave her the owl equivalent of a deadpan and hooted disapprovingly._

" _Right," Karasu said as she stood up and headed out the door, "See you in the morning."_

_Karasu left the incredulous owl alone in her room; she flipped the sign on the door to "Do Not Disturb". That done, she headed out into the night and turned into Knockturn Alley._

" _You never said I couldn't go into Knockturn Alley, Mister Fudge~," Karasu thought cheerfully. She still had her invisibility cloak with her._

_"HOOT!" Hedwig hooted in a scolding tone._

" _It'll be fine… I won't be caught…" and with that Karasu twirled on the spot and whipped the cloak over her body._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey! This chapter was taking longer than I expected... so I thought I would post a preview! And I haven't been able to get in touch with my beta so that slows down things a bit. Also... I am a college student now! School doesn't start yet and I'm going to get a job to pay for it. That will ultimately cut down on the time I can work on my stories. Thank you for understanding and your patience!


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